The Silver Key
by legalliz
Summary: Sequel to The Bail-Out, this story is set shortly after the epilogue. A hunt for treasure is in the works as Stephanie and Ranger head off to track down the mystery case that once belonged to a couple of ruthless con artists. It's rumored to have information for an off-shore account with a balance large enough to kill for. Who'll come out on top in this race to the treasure?
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This is my first attempt at a sequel, so be warned. Also, I decided to kick the rating up a level because well, they're married in this story. There's bound to be a few scandalous situations here and there. Also, be aware that this story's probably going to take a while. I've shifted my focus more to an original story that I really want to finish, so these chapters may show up sporadically. Maybe hold off until it's complete if you have a hard time waiting. Thanks for reading! Enjoy!_

I rolled over in my sleep and drowsily searched for the heat source I wanted to snuggle into. Inch by inch I scooted over until I finally registered that the other half of the bed was empty. I blew out a small sigh of disappointment before I felt a familiar pair of lips brush across my forehead.

"I've got an early meeting this morning," Ranger said quietly as he finished buttoning up one of his black dress shirts.

I squinted open one eye before turning over onto my back. "Can't you be a little late? I'm cold."

His eyes darkened with a hint of desire. "Cold, huh?"

I gave a little impromptu shiver. "Freezing."

He glanced at his watch. "Sorry, babe. Not this morning. This client's kind of particular, and I really should make an effort to be on time."

My bottom lip came out in a faux pout. "Too bad." I slid out from under the covers and strutted toward the bathroom. "Guess I'll have to settle for a hot, steamy shower to warm me up instead."

I glanced back over my shoulder with a devilish grin. The game was too fun not to play, but I was just seconds away from losing. I really was cold now that I'd slipped out of the warm bed. Especially considering I wasn't wearing anything.

Ranger came up behind me and pulled me flush against him. I gave a small squeak of surprise before he brushed my hair aside and started kissing my neck. His hands travelled south over the curves of my body, shamelessly torturing me for the naughty little game I'd played.

"Still feeling cold, babe?" he whispered seductively in my ear.

All I could manage was a small moan in response. Coherent thought had long since gone out the window.

With one final strategically placed kiss on my neck, he took a step back. "You're absolutely killing me here," he added with a subtle shake of his head.

My brain was still rebooting, so I just blew out a wistful sigh in response.

"Want to take a slow, leisurely morning up here, and I can help you with that shower when I get back?"

It was an offer only a fool would refuse, but I had a lot of paperwork to catch up on considering the longer lunches I'd been taking recently with my boss. "I've got some stuff to take care of downstairs. If I don't, I'm not going to be very popular with my coworkers."

Ranger made a face that almost looked like disappointment. Cute.

"But," I added quickly, "maybe if you've got some time later this afternoon we could get all sweaty in the gym and come back up here to rinse off."

Ranger sucked in a breath. "Shit. Now _I_ need a shower again." He pulled me back into his arms and strategically rubbed himself against me. His problem was pretty obvious. And it was a _big_ problem. Whoops! Shame on me…

"You are downright evil sometimes, Stephanie Manoso," he growled before stealing another kiss.

I shrugged. "What can I say? I learned from the best."

He shook his head and kissed my nose. "I need to go before this gets out of hand." He turned and headed for the door. "I love you," he called over his shoulder. "And I expect you to hold up your end of that gym bargain later. No weaseling your way out of it like you always do."

I put my hands on my hips. "What's in it for me?"

A slow smile worked its way across his face. "You put in the work at the gym, and I'll make sure you get the best shower of your life."

Oh boy.

My name's Stephanie Plum Manoso. And my life has always been fifty shades of complicated. My family is complicated, my job is complicated, and my love life was _very_ complicated. Up until recently. And it took a complicated mess with a con artist to start setting a few things straight. Like my relationship with Ranger. Batman. Carlos? Hubby? Guess I'm still trying to settle on a name.

The real problem resided in the fact that I was never really sure what to do with him. The guy was a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in muscles wrapped in black, sexy clothing. But something changed when he almost lost me to Ben. Or rather, Barney. It's a long story. Regardless, some crucial barriers came down, and things started getting a lot less complicated between us.

Even after all of that, I still didn't know exactly what to do with him. So naturally, I married him. And the complications haven't magically vanished like they do in all those fairytales. He still works long hours, and my eating habits still drive him nuts. But at the end of the day, it's nice to know that the ring around my finger isn't going anywhere. The love we have for each other is now the one consistently uncomplicated thing in my life. Love, as it turns out, is strangely simple. Go figure.

I took my shower and ate the breakfast already sitting out on the kitchen counter. Two cups of coffee later, and I was down at my desk on the fifth floor sorting through my stack of contracts, waivers, and assorted other documents that looked important. It wasn't my favorite part of the job, but my coworkers are fun and I think my boss kind of has a thing for me. Turns out mixing business and pleasure can be all sorts of exciting. Not that I didn't know this already. Ranger and I have kind of been doing it off and on for years.

My desk was just starting to materialize again when I noticed a subtle shift in air pressure. Guess the boss was back in his office. I straightened a few loose documents before deciding to take an impromptu break. For good mental health.

I knocked on Ranger's door and casually walked in. He glanced up from his computer when I took a seat on the corner of his desk.

"How was the meeting?" I asked with a flirty grin.

"The details are kind of fuzzy. Had a helluva time concentrating after that stunt you pulled this morning."

I gave my best "who, me?" expression, and he twitched a small smile in response. Then he nodded towards the door indicating he wanted me to close it. My heartrate kicked up a few notches as I began to worry that this might be payback for earlier.

"W-w-what's up?" I asked while shutting the door. Damn those telltale stutters!

He stalked toward me and pressed me up against the wall. His wolf-grin appeared and I almost had an orgasm on the spot. "I've got a question for you," he said huskily.

My body was screaming "yes!" already. "Uhh…"

He leaned closer and kissed me. My knees threatened to buckle. "Interested in a little treasure hunt, babe?"

Oh, hell yes! Treasure hunts were my absolute favorite! "Mmmhmm…" I moaned as I reached for the belt buckle on his pants.

He grinned before opening the door, suddenly pulling me toward the elevator. Guess this meant I wouldn't have to stifle crude noises in his office…again. That was thoughtful of him.

We rode the elevator up to seven, and I followed him into the apartment. He pinned me against the door once we were inside and slipped his hands under my shirt tracing slow, seductive lines along my treasure map. He'd just started his conquest of the twin peaks when he whispered something in my ear.

Verbal language wasn't registering in my brain at the moment, so I asked him to repeat it. After all, I didn't want to miss out on any clever treasure hunting suggestions.

He pulled back slightly. "I asked if you still had that silver key."

I looked at him blankly. "Silver key? What's that supposed to mean? You haven't used _that_ euphemism before."

He laughed. "No, babe. The key. The silver key from the whole Ben fiasco."

"I'm sorry. I'm still stuck on treasure hunting. What exactly are we talking about here?"

"The key to the missing mystery case. You still have it, right?"

"Probably." The processing cortex of my mind was apparently still short-circuiting.

"How long would it take you to find it?"

At the current rate my mind was functioning, probably forever. "An afternoon?"

"Perfect. Meet me downstairs in the gym at 1600. Bring the key."

"Wait. _What_?"

"The gym. Four. You remember the deal from earlier, right?"

"Yeah, about that. I'm pretty sure it says in our marriage vows that I can't be held responsible for deals made prior to seven in the morning."

Ranger kissed me again. "Nice try." He made his way toward the door.

"But what about the treasure?" I protested. "And the map? Aren't we going to finish the treasure hunt?"

"Oh, I don't need a map to find _that_ treasure, babe. But if you want me to use one, I better see some serious sweat effort later in the gym."

He walked out the door leaving me in a dopey daze with a suspicious feeling that I'd just been played.


	2. Chapter 2

Turns out I kept that silver key where I keep all my valuables. Scattered willy-nilly all over the place. Guess I wanted to hedge my bets in case someone broke in and tried to steal them.

A break-in. Here. Ha! That's a good one…

The truth is probably more along the lines of me lacking skills in the organizational department. And I was really starting to regret the lack of those skills. Especially after scouring the apartment for a good two hours. Where _was_ that stupid key?

I remember not wanting to think about it. It felt symbolic of the months I'd spent being a complete idiot. No one wants to remember times like that, right?

But the key itself had been intriguing. At least the story behind it. Apparently it belonged to a case that contained passwords and account info to a mysterious offshore bank account. And that account contained a balance with large numbers followed by lots of zeroes from one crazy whopper of a heist. At least that's how the story went.

I didn't exactly get to verify the details about the case _or_ the heist because I kind of killed the guy who knew all that stuff. It was a life or death situation. Honest. I'm not just some crazy who goes around killing people. Well, most of the time. Haha. Just kidding. All my "kills" have definitely been in self defense.

Still on the key hunt, I decided to try the "retrace your steps" game to see if I could come up with a clever place I might have stashed it. Except that game is kind of difficult when those steps are over a year old. Eventually I was just looking in weird places hoping the key would magically turn up. I even looked in Ranger's underwear drawer, which was of course empty because the guy doesn't typically wear underwear. Speaking of…wonder if he'd mind if I borrowed the extra drawer space?

By 3:45 I was starting to feel panicky. Not like _really_ panicky because it wasn't like it was the end of the world if I couldn't find the key. But Ranger seemed kind of interested in it. Which had _me_ kind of interested because he must have uncovered something pretty remarkable to be _that_ curious about the key's whereabouts. Which I _still_ couldn't find! Gah!

3:50 rolled around and I threw on a sports bra, yoga pants, and a t-shirt while I continued to brainstorm hiding places. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Stephanie-style multitasking at its finest. Unfortunately, as fine as it was, it didn't help. I was still drawing a blank.

Then I had this stupidly clever thought. Probably more stupid than clever. You see, the thing is, I never _actually_ showed Ranger the key. I mean, of course I called him the moment I found it buried in the bottom of Rex's hamster bedding. But we kind of decided to let sleeping dogs lie, so to speak. I was ready to be done with the whole Ben situation, and Ranger seemed very supportive of that decision. So we left the mystery case a mystery and moved on with life. Or so I thought.

I opened my jewelry box and fished around in the compartments until I found what I was looking for. Safety deposit box keys mostly looked like mystery case keys, right? Ok, even if they didn't, it might buy me a little extra time to look for the _real_ key. Besides, it wasn't super likely that Ranger had the case all ready to go in his office anyway.

More time ticked away, and I suddenly realized I'd been gnawing on my lower lip. Not a good sign. This was probably a bad idea. A fake key? Did Ranger really deserve that? My brain was telling me "no", but my juvenile side was asking me "what could it really hurt?" Word to the wise: don't listen to your juvenile side. It doesn't usually turn out well.

But I was flustered. And running late. So I shoved the key in my sports bra and took off at a full sprint toward the gym.

Ranger was already running on the treadmill by the time I burst through the door of the Rangeman gym. Mr. Punctual… He didn't even bother glancing back at me. Instead a slow smirk spread across his face. He pressed a few buttons and slowed to a jog.

"Someone must not be very interested in that treasure hunt," he said over his shoulder.

Was he _serious_? I'd just sprinted down like five flights of stairs. I was already dripping sweat, and I hadn't even started my work out yet. Well, two could play at this game…

Silly me. I'd forgotten to stretch. Wouldn't want any pulled muscles now, would I? I ignored Ranger's comment and made my way over to the mats where I found a clever spot for my intended purposes. I tugged off my damp t-shirt and started reaching for my toes. Mmm…stretching out those muscles sure felt good.

I surreptitiously glanced over my shoulder as I gave a soft moan. Ranger popped in an earbud and kicked his pace up a notch. Guess he was on to my little plan. Maybe it was time for some yoga…

Downward-facing doggie style, anyone? How about the coy cobra? Pretty sure the wide-legged forward bend didn't even need a sexy twist. It was practically an invitation all on its own. I was just about to morph into the seductive sphinx pose when I noticed a slight shadow materialize above me.

"Need some assistance there, babe?"

Ha, I knew he couldn't resist my yoga moves.

"Nah. I got this. Thanks." Tugging tiger tails was my favorite pastime. And for good reason.

There was a low growl just before I was yanked to my feet.

"I believe you've made your point," he said as he traced a small bead of sweat sliding down my neck with his finger. It gave me a shiver.

"And what point might that be?" At this juncture, I was having a really hard time keeping a straight face.

He leaned in close. "I'll give you a ten second head start before I give you a very _thorough_ demonstration."

Hmmm… I was pretty sure I wanted to be caught. But there could be some skilled torture involved if I didn't at least _look_ like I'd put in some effort to get away. Guess it was time for some more sprinting.

I took off toward the stairwell and took the stairs by two's. Of course the chase was kind of like pitting a lame gazelle against a cheetah. It was only a matter of time before the gazelle succumbed to its inevitable fate. But today, this gazelle was in a _very_ playful mood. So I actually took the stairs down to the garage instead. Take that, Mr. Cheetah!

I shut the door to the garage very quietly and debated where to hide. It was a little disappointing that most of the fleet cars were gone. Guess the guys were out making their rounds.

I ducked behind one of Ranger's black Porsches and started snickering. It was all fun and games until someone snuck up behind me. At which time I nearly wet myself.

"Holy shit!" I squeaked in surprise. "How do you do that?"

Ranger's eyes darkened. "Let's just say you're not the only one good at misdirection." A slow, wicked grin spread across his face. "And I may have only counted to three."

Clever cheetah.

I took a few cautious steps backward. It was clear from those dark, lusty eyes that the takedown was just moments away. Unless this cat wanted to play with his prey before finishing it off.

Ranger crooked his finger at me, and I bit my lip before shaking my head. He stalked toward me, and I foolishly turned to run. I probably made it three steps before he captured me.

I wriggled and squirmed in fake protest. His arms tightened around me until I surrendered.

"Babe."

I gave him my best innocent smile. "Yes?"

He shook his head. "What am I going to do with you?"

I had a few suggestions that quickly came to mind.

He nuzzled my neck. "Think you've got enough stamina for something like that?"

Putting those mind-reading skills to good use, I see. Let's see if he can figure out what I'm thinking now…

Ranger started shoving me toward the elevator. "Upstairs," he growled. " _Now_."

It's a good thing Ranger has that signal scramble thingy on his keychain. Because at this rate, there was no way we were going to make it all the way back to the seventh-floor apartment.

I was already starting to see stars when a small, tinkling sound caught my attention. And then I realized Ranger had momentarily stopped his pleasure campaign. I glanced down and frowned.

"You're not going to leave me hanging here, are you?" I almost panted.

Ranger stood and dangled a key next to my face. "Care to explain why this safety deposit key came tumbling out of your bra just now?"

Nope. Besides, explanations were so much less interesting than the steamy elevator situation we had going on just a few moments ago. Time to get things back on track.

I stood on my toes and whispered something scandalous in his ear. Ranger tossed the key behind his back and instantly resumed his focus on me.

"You're not off the hook, babe," he said between kisses. "We'll get back to the key later."

Heh heh. We'll just see about that…


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Thank you to the guest who left the review with this fabulous idea :) Also, I forgot to mention earlier that these characters are all Janet's creations. I borrow, don't get paid, etc._

"I have a confession," I mumbled into a pillow on the bed. Ranger looked particularly relaxed sprawled out next to me. His breathing was slow and even, and his eyes were closed. If I didn't know any better, I'd almost guess he was sleeping. But of course, that wasn't likely. Batman hardly ever took midday naps. Even after high-energy activities like the one we'd just engaged in.

"Mmm," he finally managed in response.

"I haven't had donuts or desserts in like three days."

The corner of his mouth twitched. " _That_ explains a lot. Those jelly donut hormones can wreak some serious havoc, babe."

Don't I know it. And it was the best kind of havoc too. Like Pompeii-explosion type havoc. Havoc that I'd already decided was well worth all the crazy sugar withdrawals.

"I didn't break you, did I?" I asked playfully as I crawled on top of him.

Ranger's eyes finally opened as he stared up at me. He tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear before he moved his hips slightly. "You tell me."

Definitely _not_ broken. And I was starting to wonder if my jelly donut hormone problem was completely out of my system. Guess there was only one way to find out...

Ranger flipped me onto my back. "Before we test out that theory of yours, babe, is there anything else you'd like to confess?"

Hmmm… I thought for a minute, but my mind was already on to something else. "No?"

He drug his fingertips slowly up my thigh and paused just shy of my fun zone. "You sure?"

Damn. He remembered the key.

"Oh, _that_."

Ranger leaned down. "Yeah. _That,_ " he said against my lips. He kissed me very slowly before pausing all the action.

This was some of that "skilled torture" I mentioned earlier. Ranger used to be Special Forces. He knows ninety-nine ways to get a man to talk. And one very clever way to get a Stephanie to talk. And it _always_ works…

"Hey, I was in a hurry," I said in protest. "And you said to bring the silver key. So I grabbed the first silver key I saw and booked it downstairs."

I felt him smile. "You couldn't find it."

"I was distracted."

"Babe."

This use of "babe" roughly translates to "we need to work on your organizational skills." But I was thinking that right now it could probably wait.

"Maybe you could help jog my memory," I added suggestively as I wrapped my legs around him.

He seemed to like that suggestion. Or maybe he liked what my fingers were doing at the time. It was kind of hard to tell. Well, at least at first.

Ranger suddenly took over our little group activity and was reminding me yet again why healthy eating was probably a win-win for everyone. In fact, I was just nearing his _best_ argument when I had this stunning moment of clarity. I finally remembered where I'd hidden that damn key!

"Um, hold that thought," I said as I tried to push Ranger off me.

Yeah, I agree. The timing wasn't great. In fact, it was terrible. Probably the absolute worst. But what if I forgot all over again with that almost guaranteed post-coital amnesia? Hey, with Ranger, this was a real possibility. Trust me. Sometimes I even forget my own name.

"Babe?"

"I'll be _right_ back," I added with a brief kiss. "Don't move."

I jumped off the bed and dashed out to the kitchen. After opening a few cupboards, I finally found what I was looking for. My brown bear cookie jar! Of course! I opened the lid and grinned. There at the bottom was a little, silver key. I did a little happy dance before racing back to the bedroom.

"I've got it!" I yelled as I jumped back onto the bed. Imagine my disappointment when I realized the bed was empty.

"Ranger?" I called. Then I heard the shower running in the bathroom.

I slowly opened the door and put my hands on my hips. "What the heck?" I asked over the hiss of the shower spray.

Ranger cracked open the shower door. "Sorry, I got a call. There was a break-in across town, and I've gotta head out."

"You couldn't spare _five_ minutes?" I pouted.

"How was I supposed to know it would only be five minutes? You dashed out of the bedroom without much of an explanation."

Damn. He was right.

I dangled the key in the air. "I found it."

His mouth twitched. "Glad I could help jog your memory."

I sighed. The memory jogging was nice. But I was _really_ looking forward to that amnesia bit at the end.

"What's wrong now?"

"I think I still have some residual hormone overflow problems."

Ranger stepped out of the shower and tugged my arm to come and join him. "No guarantees, but I'll see what I can do in three minutes," he grinned.

Lucky me. Because three minutes with Ranger was like thirty with any other man.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning I woke up alone. This wasn't exactly unexpected considering I could see hints of sunlight peeking through the bedroom curtains. Ranger did the whole early morning thing. I didn't. Still, I was a little disappointed.

I sat in bed for a while enjoying the room's soft shadows, the thread count of the sheets, and the lingering Bulgari smell from Ranger's pillow. These things were the norm for me now. But I didn't always take the time to enjoy them.

Eventually I drug myself out of bed and went and hopped in the shower. I blow dried my hair and swiped some mascara on my lashes. Then I pulled on some of my black cargoes and a stretchy blue t-shirt. After all, a girl can't live on the monochromatic color spectrum alone. It might be fine for Batman, but Wonder Woman likes to dabble in color from time to time.

I padded out to the kitchen and stopped when I came across the tray with breakfast. It had a box from the Tasty Pastry along with a warm kettle of coffee. There was also a hand-written note tucked into the box.

 _Busy day. Can't afford a repeat of yesterday. Enjoy the donuts. Love, R_

My naughty side considered tossing the box in the garbage. But my practical side knew I could never let a good donut go to waste. Not to mention twelve. So, I sat down and proceeded to make a sizable dent in the dozen-donut menagerie.

After my sugar levels returned to a Stephanie-normal, I gathered my things and took the elevator to the fifth floor. A lack of tingles as I walked past the boss's door meant he was probably out of the building. Most likely on client business.

My mind began to wander thinking about Ranger's client clothes. Honestly, the man looked good in anything. Or nothing. But there was something downright magical about him wearing a black button-up dress shirt with those perfectly tailored black slacks. He looked like Red Carpet meets James Bond meets Zorro. Maybe with a subtle hint of the devil thrown somewhere in there.

I licked my lips and realized the donuts hadn't fully done their job this morning. Guess I'd have to sneak upstairs to level-off the hormones later. Maybe next time I wouldn't go quite so long without sugar.

A few of the guys dropped by my desk while I caught up on my paperwork. Lester shot me with a spit wad. Cal offered to buy me a soda when he was out making his rounds. And Tank…well, Tank made sure I remembered I had some important deadlines coming up.

He's second in command to the boss and tries to keep things organized and professional. This can be a bit of a challenge considering most of the company employees are twelve-year-old boys cleverly disguised as linebackers with a five o'clock shadow. Let's just say he's got his work cut out for him.

I was just about ready for my donut break when I noticed an eerie silence had settled on the floor. Not like _bad_ eerie. More like a someone-important-just-stepped-onto-the-floor eerie.

I double-checked my spidey sense. Still no tingles. Guess it was safe to assume that the mystery guest probably wasn't Ranger.

Curiosity finally got the better of me, so I peeked out over the top of my computer towards the elevator. Holy Moses! Who was _that_?

No one seemed to be rushing over to help our guest, so I decided to step in and play Ms. Hospitality.

"Hi," I called as I made my way over to her. "Can I help you with something?" Like directing you toward the nearest modeling agency, perhaps?

She glanced around. "I'm actually here to see Mr. Manoso. Is he around?"

My eyes narrowed a little. This woman looked like a Victoria Secret Bombshell cleverly dressed like business Barbie. _And_ she was wearing some very sexy Louis Vuitton heels. Good taste _and_ good looks. I hated her already.

"He's dead," I blurted.

As luck would have it, the elevator doors opened at that exact moment, and Ranger stepped out onto the floor looking like a gazillion bucks. Dammit!

"Amber," he said as he made his way over to us. "Is there a problem? I thought you were coming by at two."

Oh, there was _definitely_ a problem. And apparently her name was Amber.

Amber gave Ranger an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Carlos. I had an emergency situation come up this afternoon. I was wondering if we could bump the meeting back to noon." She touched his arm. "But I totally understand if you're too busy."

The fact that there was arm-touching along with everyone being on a first-name basis here was starting to make my blood boil. I cleared my throat obnoxiously in hopes of getting a very good explanation. Like maybe Ranger and Amber were related. Or better yet, maybe this "Amber" was really a dude.

Oh, who was I kidding? Those perfect breasts practically screamed authentic. Not to mention other things… No way was she a guy.

"Stephanie," Ranger said, seeming to suddenly remember I was standing there. "This is Amber Holdt. She's the newest member of the Rangeman accounting team."

"Ah." Since when did Victoria Secret models moonlight as accountants anyway? It was probably a Legally Blond thing. With any luck, she was all beauty and no brains. Not that it made me feel _tons_ better, but hey, at least it was something.

I waited patiently for a tenth of a second for Ranger to introduce me. He didn't. So I went ahead and introduced myself.

"Stephanie Manoso," I said with a heavy emphasis on the last name. I shook her hand in a grasp that was probably a little tighter than necessary. "I'm Carlos's _wife_." Got that, sweetheart?

Amber smiled pleasantly. "Nice to meet you, Stephanie."

Wish I could say the same. "Likewise," I lied.

If Ranger recognized the heat from all the hot water he was currently in, he didn't show it. Instead he carried on, business as usual, and proceeded to escort the lovely Amber into his office. I followed them in like an awkward fifth wheel. Or third wheel, I guess. Whatever.

Ranger gave me a look. "Did you need something, babe?"

"Just figured I'd come join the party. You know, get a better understanding of how Rangeman's doing financially these days." Ranger looked like he might be fighting a smile. Mostly because all of it was a big, fat lie, and we both knew it.

"I can assure you, Rangeman's doing fine," he replied. "Are you sure you don't need something?"

"I'd _like_ to be a part of this meeting," I insisted. "It's important to me."

Ranger gave me a look like I was starting to be a pain in his ass, but he still pulled out an extra chair for me anyway. Then Amber gave me another one of her annoying smiles. I grabbed a piece of paper and pen and tried not to fill it with all the things I hated about her. Instead, I did the mature thing and wrote "Rangeman Finances" across the top. Two could play at this whole business Barbie game. Take that, Amber!

Ranger took a seat and gave me another one of his almost-smiles when he caught a glimpse of my notes. I couldn't tell if he was silently laughing at me or thinking that I was dorky and adorable. Maybe it was a little of both.

My eyes started to glaze over by the time Amber reached the monthly financial breakdowns. Math was never one of my strong suits, and I guess I never quite got the hang of speaking all that number lingo. So listening to Ms. Business prattle on and on about budgets and balances was like watching one of those Spanish soap operas. I knew a big scene was taking place right in front of me, but I couldn't understand any of the specifics.

Finally, Amber stood and shook Ranger's hand. "Thanks, Carlos," she said. "I'll send you the reports once they're all finalized. See you next week." And with a subtle flip of her perfect hair, she stood and cat-walked herself right out of the office.

"So that was Amber, huh?" I asked as I scribbled over the words "die Amber" on my notepad.

Ranger glanced up from the reports on his desk. "Yes."

"She seems…nice."

Ranger raised the slightest of eyebrows. "This isn't going to be a problem, is it?"

"Of course not," I lied.

You know, for a man who is impossibly brilliant in so many ways, sometimes Ranger can be a massive idiot.


	5. Chapter 5

"Say _what_?" Lula spat, sending bits of coleslaw flying across the table.

"I know, right?"

"You're tellin' me Batman went and hired some no-good skank to manage all those dollar signs for his fancy Bat Empire?"

"Pretty much."

Lula narrowed her eyes before dabbing at her mouth with a napkin. Then she proceeded to inhale an enormous bite of sandwich.

"Hunh," she said while chewing. "I always thought he was smarter than that. You know, making sure his ladies on the side stayed secret and all."

I frowned. "Well, I don't think he's _cheating_ on me."

Lula swallowed another bite of sandwich and chased it down with a swig of soda. "Well, what _are_ you saying then?"

"I'm _saying_ that I don't like them working together. She's super smart and freakishly hot. I mean, you should've seen her boobs. They were like giant, perfectly-shaped spheres! You'd have to dumb _and_ blind not to notice them. _And_ she was wearing some of the sexiest Louis Vuitton's I've ever seen. A girl like that's got an agenda. Know what I'm sayin'?"

"Yeah, girl," Lula grinned. "I know what you're sayin'. You're sayin' you're jealous."

I gave a laugh. "Me? Jealous? Yeah, right."

Lula shrugged her shoulders and continued to eat. Dammit. She had a point.

"Ok, you're right," I frowned. "I'm _totally_ jealous." Then I slumped forward onto the table. "Ugh! What the hell's wrong with me, Lula? I'm such a mess!"

"Nah, white girl. You just acting like any typical, red-blooded woman. You wanna make sure little Miss Suzie Homewrecker don't mess with your man is all."

"Exactly." I paused. "But that still makes me feel like a colossal bitch."

"Fraid I can't help ya there, Steph. Cuz I don't usually worry none about the bitch part."

Lula polished off her sandwich and eyed the remainder of my fries. "You gonna eat those?" she asked. "That coleslaw didn't quite fill me up proper. I think I need me some starch to balance out all that meat."

I shoved the plate over. "Help yourself."

Once all the food was gone, we settled our bills and headed back out to Lula's firebird. She plopped in the driver's seat before readjusting her stretched-to-the-max leopard print tube top and swiping some ruby red gloss over her lips.

"For what it's worth," she added before sticking the keys in the ignition. "I think you've got yourself a decent guy, Steph. Maybe one of the last of his kind. Don't think you need to worry none about him slinking off with little Miss Boobs n' Brains. He knows a good thing when he sees it."

I sighed. "You're right."

"Damn straight." Lula started her car and swerved out into traffic. "That bein' said, how do you feel about filling out a bunch of them porn subscription cards under her name and office address? Just to mess with her a little."

I thought it over for a moment. It was juvenile. But considering the circumstances, I decided I was ok with that. A devious grin slowly worked its way across my face. "Let's do it."

An hour later, I took the Rangeman elevator back up to the apartment on the seventh floor. Ranger wasn't due back from his client meetings for a while, so I was surprised when a stream of savory smells wafted towards me as I walked in the door.

"Ella?" I called. No one responded.

I set my handbag down in the entryway, and followed my nose into the kitchen to further investigate the origin of all those fabulous smells. My salivary glands kicked into hyper drive when I found the chicken parmigiana waiting in the oven. Wow! Guess it was my lucky day.

I'd just started snooping around for dessert when I felt a slight tingle at the back of my neck. Warm arms reached out and encircled me from behind. I leaned into them and sighed.

"Have a good day, babe?" Ranger asked into my hair.

I shrugged. "Eh. Not bad."

He spun me around before pressing his lips into mine in one of his classic, bone-melting kisses.

"Wow," I said breathlessly. "First the dinner, then the kiss. What's the occasion?" My mind scrambled to reboot. Hopefully I hadn't forgotten anything important.

Ranger grinned. "I'm in love."

"Yeah?" I liked where this was going.

"And it's terrible."

"Terrible?" I made a face.

"Work production has suffered. I accomplish only a fraction of what I used to. And there are rumors that some of my employees have started calling me soft."

I ran my hands over Ranger's perfectly chiseled chest. Pretty sure _nothing_ about Ranger was soft. Maybe with the exception of his lips. But that was only when he was feeling romantic. Those lips could be pretty powerful and insistent if he was in the right frame of mind. My thoughts started to drift away from the conversation and move toward other lip-related activities.

"Babe."

"Sorry. You were saying?"

He gave me a look. "Did you throw away those donuts I bought you?"

"No! How could you say such a thing? That would be nothing short of sacrilege."

I had to admit, my denial wasn't very convincing at the moment considering my hands had somehow managed to find themselves buried deep in Ranger's back pockets. But in my defense, Ranger has a _really_ nice butt. Always perfect for a little innocent groping. Or maybe not-so-innocent…

Ranger reached around to return the favor. It made a surge of heat skitter like lightning bolts to all my favorite places. Mmmm…

"Steph," Ranger said as he pulled back slightly. "Thanks for not making a big deal about Amber."

Suddenly those lightning bolts of heat seemed to morph into a weird squishy feeling that kind of resembled an old acquaintance of mine called guilt. Hopefully all those porn subscription cards wouldn't somehow be traced back to me. I wasn't so sure Ranger would find the humor in it.

"No problem." See? I could be mature about all of this. Probably.

"She's been doing a lot of good things for the company since she's been on board, and it's really helped get everything back on track after our little setback. She's got a lot of good ideas and isn't scared to put them in motion."

I wanted to be happy that Ranger had found this awesome wonder accountant. Honest. But it would have been much easier if said accountant was eighty years old and wrinkled beyond recognition. Or a man. Or if she did all the accounting from another country. Or solar system.

"She sounds great," I said, trying to smile. "You should probably start calling her Mary."

"Mary?"

"Yeah, you know as in Mary Poppins? Practically perfect in every way?"

Ranger gave me a knowing look. "She might be _practically_ perfect in every way, but I know a woman who's _completely_ perfect in every way."

"Ugh!" I frowned playfully. "Why do you always have to remind me about the perfect Jean Ellen?"

Ranger laughed. "She might be the perfect bounty hunter, babe, but you're the perfect you. And like I said before, I'm in love. With you."

"It's a dangerous business," I warned.

He shrugged. "Someone's gotta do it. And you know how I've always liked to live a little dangerously."

I rewarded his response with a passionate kiss. Then my stomach started growling like an angry bear. I glanced down to shush it.

"Little busy here," I whispered.

Ranger shook his head. "Let's eat, babe. I'm hungry too."


	6. Chapter 6

Halfway through dinner, Ranger got a call that he took out in the den. To be honest, I was still too busy stuffing my face to pay much attention. Although I paid more attention when he came back a few minutes later with an odd expression on his face.

"Everything ok?" I asked, still trying to decipher his look.

"Yes."

I raised my eyebrows waiting for a more detailed response. "And?"

He took a casual sip of wine. "I've been looking for a guy. One of my contacts just called me with a lead."

"That's good, right?"

"Right."

A-a-and we're back to the one-word responses... "So is this the part where you tell me you'll be gone for a few weeks and slip me your platinum credit card?"

His mouth twitched a small smile. "Babe."

"Well, I've gotta do _something_ while you're gone. And I don't think you really want me doing skip chasing with Lula while you're off saving the world."

He shrugged. "It's fine by me if you want to do skip chasing"

"I'd rather do some shopping," I said, flashing my best cutesy grin.

He thought for a moment. "How would you feel about doing some shopping on Rodeo Drive?"

"Ha! Yeah, and if you could invite my friends Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan along while you're at it, that would be great."

Ranger didn't laugh. He just continued watching me from across the table.

"Wait, are you _serious_?"

"I might need to set up another meeting with Amber to crunch some numbers, but yeah, I'm pretty serious."

I thought for a moment. This was all too weird. "Is it my birthday or something? Because you're doing all these _really_ nice things for me."

"Last time I checked, it wasn't October, babe."

Yeah, didn't think so. "Ok, so what's the deal then?"

"I already told you. I'm in love."

"And that's _really_ sweet of you, but I'm still thinking there's something else going on here. You've got a weird expression on your face."

"Do I?"

"Uh huh…" I stood and walked over to him before taking a seat in his lap. "I'm not going to have to torture the truth out of you, am I?"

Ranger grinned. "Depends on the method of torture."

I looked him over again. "Okay, you're officially freaking me out now. What was up with that phone call? And why do you suddenly look like a kid at Christmas?"

Ranger slid his hand under my shirt. "Let's just say I'm feeling _very…_ lucky."

Funny. So was I.

"How lucky?"

He cupped my breast and gave me a steamy look that threatened to melt my clothes off.

"Very, _very_ lucky," he almost growled against my neck. His lips brushed that spot just below my ear and I completely forgot what we were talking about.

Then he picked me up and carted me off to the bedroom.

"You're not off the hook you know," I added after he dumped me in a tingling heap on the bed. "We're going to revisit this later."

Ranger pulled his shirt over his head and shucked his pants. " _If_ you remember," he smiled deviously.

"Oh, _I'll_ remember." Yeah, I already had no idea what I was talking about.

He made a face like I'd just issued a challenge. "Wanna bet?"

Funny thing about Ranger. He only makes bets he knows he can win.


	7. Chapter 7

Morning rolled around, and all I could remember from the night before was that Ranger had been in a _very_ good mood. As in walking on sunshine good. Which he politely shared with me. And I was _still_ feeling the effects of all that sunshine. From my head clear down to my toes. Not to mention all the fun places in between. Guess those good moods are kind of contagious.

Ranger's alarm chirped on the nightstand, but he didn't roll out of bed right away. Maybe he was still soaking in some of the residual sunshine too.

He shifted on to his side and kissed my shoulder. The heat from his body along with the intimacy of the kiss made me want him all over again.

"Babe," he said in his husky, morning voice. Be still, my beating heart.

"Hi," I replied with a dopey grin.

He smiled before pulling me closer to him. "I was serious about the shopping last night. You interested in a business trip to LA?"

I turned to look at him. "I'm sorry. Did I miss something? Like maybe the memo about Rangeman expanding to the west coast?"

"No. I mean, I suppose it's a possibility. Someday. But this trip would be unrelated." He played with a loose strand of my hair. "I need to see a guy."

"A guy, huh? Sounds mysterious."

He nuzzled my neck. "I thought you liked a man of mystery."

"Yeah," I admitted. "It _is_ pretty sexy, but I'm starting to feel a little out of the loop here. Can't I know at least _some_ of the details here?"

"Which details would you like to know?"

I thought for a moment. "Who are we meeting with?"

"A con artist."

"Well, of course. Why didn't I think of that?"

My sarcasm was ignored. "Rumor has it, he knows things."

Ranger started caressing my body in some _very_ intimate places, reminding me of some of the things only _Ranger_ knows. Naturally, this caused me to temporarily lose focus on the conversation. I mumbled something incoherently, which I guess only further encouraged Ranger to keep going.

For some reason, all this extra physical attention was starting to feel an awful lot like a distraction. Again! _Well, mister, I'm on to your clever little tactics_ now _._ I grabbed Ranger's wandering hands and sat up before he had a chance to further distract me.

"So we're going to see a con artist. In California. Who knows things," I repeated.

"Pretty much sums it up."

Suddenly a lightbulb clicked on. "He wouldn't happen to know _silver_ - _key_ -related things, would he?"

Ranger shook his head. "No."

"Oh."

"He knows _mystery_ - _case_ -related things."

I rolled my eyes. "Why didn't you just _tell_ me that?"

"It's more fun to mess with you," he grinned, slipping his hand around my waist and strategically pulling me down on top of him.

"Are you sure it's wise to mess with me?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"I didn't say it was wise. I said it was fun."

And then he proceeded to give me a very clever demonstration of everything included in his definition of "fun."


	8. Chapter 8

Ranger eyed my suitcase on the bed. "Babe, I said we were going to LA for a few _days_. We're not moving there."

I tossed a few extra things on top of the already heaping pile of clothes.

"It's your fault," I replied. "You won't give me any details on what we'll be doing while we're there, so I had to pack for it all."

Ranger blew out a small breath that kind of resembled a sigh. Then he gave me a subtle smile. He walked over and pulled out a few things from the suitcase before grabbing some additional things from the dresser.

He handed them to me. "If I were you, this is what I'd pack."

Figures. All I had in my arms were two pairs of lace panties, a black bikini, a stretchy red t-shirt, and a piece of black, lacy lingerie that didn't leave a whole lot to the imagination.

"No pants, huh?"

He grinned.

"Men…" I muttered before returning to my packing project.

"Listen, if you pack light, I'll let you shop for whatever you feel like you're missing when we get there."

Bingo! Those were the words I'd been waiting to hear.

I shrugged. "Ok. Sounds reasonable."

Ranger stalked toward me. "Why do I get the feeling you had all of this planned?"

"Because you're an overly suspicious individual who thinks everyone's got a secret agenda?" I offered.

He started pushing me backwards until I was pinned up against the wall. "And how often am I wrong about those _secret agendas_?"

I chewed on my bottom lip while I thought about the question. "Umm…never?"

"That's right, Mrs. Manoso. Never."

"Well, I'd say that's a pretty big ego you have going there, Mr…" My sentence was suddenly cut short by a strategic kiss. I pulled back trying to finish my thought, but Ranger quickly found my lips again and deepened the kiss.

He took a step back and smiled. "You were saying?"

"Something about agendas and the promise of a shopping spree." I did my best cutesy grin.

"Keep it up, babe, and I won't let you buy the pants."

I decided to shift gears to flirty. "Keep it up, Ranger, and I won't bring along the black lingerie."

He leaned down to whisper in my ear. "I think I can work around that."

Yikes!


	9. Chapter 9

It had been a while since I'd flown anywhere, let alone first class. All the little added amenities _almost_ made the long, cross-country flight bearable. Well, that along with the fact that Ranger conveniently packed along his laptop and a few of my favorite DVD's. I finished Ghostbusters and the next thing I knew, we were already halfway across the country.

I sipped some wine and snoozed while Ranger read through all his boring, work-related reports. Guess that was one of the drawbacks of running a company. The workload was endless, and it didn't take a break for holidays or vacations. Probably one of the reasons why Ranger didn't take many sick days. Well, that along with the fact that I'm not sure I've ever even seen the man sick. He's kind of weird like that.

I'd just started flipping through all the quirky stuff in the Skymall magazine when a voice came over the PA system to announce that we' be landing soon. My feet started getting all antsy in anticipation. I flipped open the window cover and watched as the city below started to appear through the clouds.

The thick layer of smog reminded me of home, but everything else seemed new and exciting. Ranger squeezed my hand.

"You ready for this, babe?" he asked over my shoulder.

I turned and noticed that same weird expression he'd had when he first took that phone call.

"Are you?"

He twitched a smile.

The plane landed with minimal excitement, and the next thing I knew, Ranger and I were leaving the airport terminal, luggage in tow, heading toward our fancy, new rental car. It was a black Mercedes.

"Didn't feel like springing for the Porsche, huh?" I asked while Ranger tossed our bags in the back.

"Not sure this felt like a Porsche kind of trip."

made a face. "What exactly does a Porsche trip feel like?"

"Like I'm trying to impress people."

"You're not?"

"Not this trip."

"What about this con artist we're meeting up with?"

Ranger gave a subtle shake of his head. "From what I hear, things don't really impress this guy. Apparently he's stolen it all. He's more impressed with a person's character, so I figured we'd play it casual and relaxed."

I stared at him a moment after situating myself in the passenger seat. "You're afraid something's going to happen to the car, and the insurance coverage is less for the Mercedes."

Ranger put the keys in the ignition. "The thought's crossed my mind."

We drove through several miles of heavy traffic deeper into the city until we eventually pulled in front of a fancy, twenty-story hotel. I glanced up as we moved closer.

"What floor are we staying on?" I asked, pretty sure I already knew the answer.

"Top floor, babe."

Of course. Ranger was notorious for his expensive taste, especially when travelling. Good thing I didn't have a fear of heights.

The moment we pulled up to the entrance, a bellhop appeared to take our luggage. I followed Ranger into the building through large, rotating, glass doors. The lobby of the hotel was elegant yet simple; it was sophisticated in an understated kind of way with clean lines and dark accents. Very Ranger.

We made our way up to the front desk and Ranger flashed his megawatt smile. The girl behind the counter's eyes went gaga for a moment before she collected herself enough to proceed with her job.

"H-h-how may I help you?" she stuttered. I offered a sympathetic smile. Been _there_ , sweetheart.

"Checking in. Reservation's under Manoso."

The girl just stood there staring at Ranger. It was like watching a snake charm its prey. I gave him a subtle elbow to the ribs. "Behave," I whispered.

"That's M-A-N-O-S-O," Ranger offered, his Spanish accent slightly thicker than normal. I gave him a look.

The girl suddenly snapped out of her daze. "I have your reservation confirmed for three nights, Mr. Manoso. Is that correct?"

"Yes."

"And I have here in the notes that you requested the honeymoon package. Congratulations to the both of you." A subtle flush rose in her cheeks, and I knew she was trying to avoid thinking about Ranger's honeymoon activities. Hell, I was trying to avoid thinking about them myself. After all, I didn't want to cause a scene in the lobby.

Ranger squeezed my hand, probably reading my mind. "That's correct."

She handed us a pair of room keys, and we headed toward the elevators.

"You almost gave that girl a heart attack back there," I scolded as we made our way to the top floor.

Ranger grinned. "Haven't had a reaction like that in quite a while. Thought I'd lost my touch."

I gave him a punch in the arm. "You're terrible."

"Jealous?" He raised an eyebrow.

"No. And this isn't our honeymoon."

"It could be."

I rolled my eyes. "That'd be like _four_ honeymoons. It simply isn't done."

Ranger shrugged. "Honestly, I just wanted the complimentary strawberries and champagne."

"Oh."

"And the added privacy. No one wants to disturb a newly married couple. They might be engaged in certain…amorous activities." He gave me a wink. Despite the fact we'd been married for a while now, I felt my cheeks warm.

The elevator stopped, and the doors opened. "Come along, my blushing bride," Ranger said as he scooped me up in his arms. "Let's see how the thread count compares to our bed back home."

I sighed in resignation. Who was I to steal the man's thunder? Besides, I had yet to have a disappointing honeymoon with Ranger. He definitely knew how to pull out all the stops.


	10. Chapter 10

We spent the next couple of days playing tourists. And newlyweds. Ranger even kept his promise and took me shopping on Rodeo Drive. Although, truth be told, the stores were all a little too trendy and high end for my taste. And it was hard to rationalize spending my former apartment's monthly rent on just one vampy blouse. Even if Ranger tried to convince me that he'd write it off as a business expense. But the atmosphere was nice, and I thoroughly enjoyed all the fuss and pampering at the shops.

The day after the shopping extravaganza, we spent an afternoon at the beach soaking up the beautiful California rays and grazing on food from street vendors along the boardwalk. It was probably my favorite part of the trip. Or at least a close second to the nighttime activities Ranger often surprised me with. It's hard to top bedroom activities with Ranger.

At some point during our trip, Ranger received a text with a date, time, and location for the meeting with his mystery contact. We did some quick research and discovered our destination for the evening was a popular rooftop bar called Perch located downtown LA, in the heart of the city. It seemed classy and nonthreatening, but Ranger wasn't thrilled about the crowds. I figured anything was better than meeting in a dark alley in a bad part of town.

Despite the numerous times I'd been on similar assignments with the man of mystery, I still felt a few random butterflies as I got dressed that evening. I was just finishing up with my hair in the bathroom when Ranger poked his head in to check on me.

"Almost ready?" he asked crossing his arms over his chest as he did a very slow body scan.

I felt my temperature rise whenever his gaze would linger on certain places.

"Yeah. I think so." After fluffing my hair one last time, I turned around and smiled. "What do you think? Could I pass for a local?"

Ranger's mouth twitched. "Not a chance."

I frowned and quickly turned my attention back to the mirror. "Is it my hair? It hasn't really been cooperating tonight. Must be all the humidity." I fussed with it some more. "Or maybe the dress? Is it too… I don't know. Too Jersey? I could change. Maybe go with something more…I don't know…sophisticated? Is that the right look here?"

I froze when I felt a hand travel up the length of my body. It gave me tingles and a small shiver of desire. Then another hand moved my hair aside to expose my neck. Ranger brushed a kiss across my shoulder. "It's the attitude. They don't make them like that here."

"Oh." My attitude wasn't exactly something I could change. Believe me, I've tried. Still, I was marginally disappointed that it would keep me from blending in.

Ranger took a step back and admired me again. "Wouldn't have you any other way, babe. The attitude makes you unique. All the local girls are a dime a dozen."

Aw! How sweet? I felt a sudden surge of confidence.

"Well then. What are we waiting for?" I asked, pulling Ranger toward the door. "Let's get this show on the road."


	11. Chapter 11

Traffic was thick as we meandered our way deeper into the city, but Ranger remained calm and relaxed. He was already in his zone. Probably working on all the details for the evening. The man was a master of strategy. Not to mention a multitasker.

Once we managed to find parking, we took two elevators up to the top of a tall, elegant building. Ranger spoke with an attendant, and we were instantly ushered past the line of guests out onto the open-air balcony. Guess someone was expecting us.

The Los Angeles skyline view was absolutely breathtaking! Lights twinkled from the surrounding buildings and the bustling hum from the streets below filled the atmosphere with an unrefined excitement and vitality.

Ranger leaned close to me. "I'm going to take a quick look around. How about you stay here for the moment and enjoy the scenery?"

I nodded, still too enamored with the view to say anything. Ranger brushed a soft kiss on my cheek before quickly disappearing into the crowd.

Servers wandered the balcony with fancy drinks and delicious-smelling plates of food. My stomach rumbled in excited anticipation.

I'd just turned my attention back to the captivating landscape when I noticed someone leaning up against the rail next to me.

"Stunning view," he said with a dashing smile.

I wasn't entirely sure he was referring to the skyline. My fingers subtly played with the ring on my left hand. Hopefully this guy would take the hint.

He continued to watch me for a moment before turning his attention back to the view. "Everything feels so lively here. Vibrant. It's one of my favorite places."

I eyed him curiously. "You come here often?"

"Just occasionally. My current line of work doesn't allow for a lot of downtime."

"It _is_ beautiful," I confessed. "And the subtle French bistro feel gives this place a lot of charm." My stomach rumbled loudly again, and I blushed. "The food smells amazing too. I can't wait to try it."

The man laughed, and his eyes twinkled with a hint of mischief. "Don't let _me_ stop you."

I was feeling amused by this guy. He seemed casual and lighthearted yet he was dressed in an expensive silk shirt and designer jeans. He had a boyish grin and bright, youthful eyes yet the fine lines around them suggested he was older than he looked. Something about him screamed affluent, but he still had all the charm of the boy next door.

"I'm kind of waiting for someone," I replied.

"Fiancé?" he asked, eyeing my ring.

"Husband, actually. And someone else."

A hint of mischief flashed across his face. "Threesome?" he grinned.

I did an exaggerated eye roll and gave him a look. "Business meeting."

"What kind of business?"

I narrowed my eyes slightly. "You ask a lot of questions."

He shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a curious guy."

A woman suddenly appeared behind him. Her body language suggested she wasn't very happy. "You're not giving this poor girl a bad time, are you?" she asked.

The man gave her a classic "who, me?" look. "I was just trying to get to know our new friends," he replied with a wink.

I narrowed my eyes again but was quickly distracted by a warm arm slipped around my waist.

I jumped slightly in surprise. "Ranger!"

He stood protectively behind me. "I see you've met our contact."

I glanced back at him. "I have?"

The man next to me thrust his hand my direction. "Nick Fox's the name," he said with an infectious grin. "A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Manoso."

I gave him a look. "Were you pumping me for information just now?"

The grin widened, and he shrugged. "Can't fault a guy for trying."

I felt Ranger's grip tighten ever so slightly around my waist. He must have known I was seconds away from punching our new acquaintance in the nose.

"I have a table waiting if you'd both be so kind as to follow me," Nick added as he started making his way through the crowd.

His associate sighed. "My apologies for Nick's…behavior." She paused. "He's really not as bad as he seems."

Yeah. I'll bet.


	12. Chapter 12

The table was small and intimate and had the best view of all the surrounding dining options. Nick smiled proudly as we took a seat at the table.

"Please," he offered. "Have a drink on me. The Penicillin's a classic here. Or if you're a little more adventurous, I'm a fan of the Spicy Concombre. The wine's good too. Kate, here, refuses to order anything other than the Sauvignon Blanc. But please, order whatever you're in the mood for."

I glanced at the menu. Alcohol wasn't usually a good idea for me. Like seriously. Ever. One glass of just about anything gave me a pretty good buzz. Two glasses, and it was guaranteed that I'd somehow find a way to embarrass myself.

Ranger rubbed my back and gave me a subtle smile. It was nonverbal permission to order whatever sounded good. Guess he felt pretty confident about the meeting so far. Like he could handle things on his own if need be. Still, I decided to avoid the hard alcohol and went with a glass of the recommended wine. Ranger ordered the same.

We all sipped our drinks casually and watched the crowds ebb and flow nearby. The men seemed occupied with their silent assessments, so I decided to try and strike up a conversation with the woman Nick had referred to as Kate.

"The wine's amazing," I said as I took another sip.

"You think the wine's good," she smiled, "you should try the bacon macaroni and cheese. Of course Nick will try to persuade you with something more…sophisticated. But honestly, the mac n' cheese is to _die_ for."

I couldn't help but smile. Finally! Someone with good taste! Maybe we could be friends after all.

"Oh, and save room for dessert too," she added. "The white chocolate bread pudding is life changing. Trust me."

Despite our uncomfortable first moments together, I was beginning to really like this Kate woman. She seemed to have her priorities straight, at least.

I leaned closer to her over the table in order to have a more private discussion. "You seem like a strong, intelligent person. What are you doing running around with _this_ clown?" I asked, nodding toward Nick.

She stifled a laugh with her hand. Then she shrugged. "He's hot."

I glanced over at him. Truth be told, he wasn't unattractive. If you went for the unpredictable and shifty types, that is.

"How about you?" she asked, glancing at Ranger. "How'd you end up with Mr. Tall, Dark, and Mysterious?"

I thought for a moment. How _did_ we end up together? It wasn't the universe's strangest pairing, I suppose, but it was probably close. Talk about your opposites attracting.

I did a hand's up gesture. "Just another one of life's great mysteries, I guess."

The waiter suddenly appeared to take our order. He was young, tall, handsome. Probably a struggling actor who currently made his rent and grocery money moonlighting as a bartender/waiter at this trendy bistro. I gave a wistful sigh thinking back to my bounty hunting days.

Then I snuck a glance at Ranger. The man had completed my life in so many ways. People were always saying how I was constantly skating by in life on random strokes of luck. Winding up as the wife of the incredible man currently sitting next to me was probably the biggest stroke of random luck of my entire life.

I mentally chuckled as the orders were completed. Ranger stuck with his usual healthy palette preferences and went with the pan roasted salmon. Nick ordered the slightly more exotic Ahi tuna tartar, and Kate and I went fine dining casual with the bacon mac n' cheese. After all, you can't _not_ order something like that when it's rumored to die for, right?

Our food arrived quickly, and Nick decided after a few bites of tuna that it was finally time to get down to business.

"So…," he began, his eyes twinkling with a hint of excitement. "Rumor has it you two crazy lovebirds are looking for a case. And someone you know thought I might be able to help you find it. Am I correct so far?"

Ranger shifted his weight and gave a subtle nod of affirmation.

Nick's smile grew. "What's so special about this case? Rumor has it that you're willing to go to a lot of trouble to find it."

I waited a moment for Ranger to reply, but he didn't. He just sat and watched Nick while he continued to eat his dinner.

"It's…complicated," I offered.

"Are we talking quest-for-the-Holy-Grail complicated or possible-revenge-situation complicated?"

I shrugged. "No idea."

"Well, what exactly _do_ you know, sweetheart?"

Ranger watched me, probably wondering how I was going to play this one. Curious to see if I was trusting enough to give up some details. Or if I was going to play this one cautiously, keeping our new "partners" on more of a need-to-know basis.

I still wasn't sure how I felt about this Nick Fox, but Kate was giving me a good vibe. Plus, she hadn't lied about the mac n' cheese. It really was to die for. Eventually, I decided it couldn't hurt to take a small risk.

"A while back, I was in a relationship with a guy who helped 'complete' the contents of this rumored case. Sounded like he probably even knew where it was at some point, but apparently his partner wasn't really all that fond of him. Sort of made sure he couldn't access its contents. Probably for good reason too. He kind of wound up dead. Well, I guess they both did."

Nick sipped his drink. "I see. You have any names to go with this little bedtime story of yours?"

"The guy I dated went by the name Ben Johnson, but later I came to find out that his 'real' name was Barney. He never gave the name of his partner."

"Barney, huh? If you don't mind me asking, do you remember what he looked like?"

I almost cringed thinking back to all those terrible months I'd spent with Ben. "Tall. Near six feet probably. Fit. Lean. Could've been early to mid-thirties. He had dark, short hair, light skin, brown eyes. And a very deceptive smile."

Ranger reached for my hand under the table and gave it a gentle, comforting squeeze.

Nick frowned. "Honey, those details could probably describe half the men in the country, myself included."

"I'm pretty sure that was the point. He conned me for ten months. Probably wanted to hedge his bets in case I figured him out."

Nick smirked in amusement. "Classic long con."

"Didn't pan out so well for him," I added with a glare. "He never found the key. _And_ he wound up with a few extra breathing holes, if you get my drift. He's now conducting his 'art of deception' meetings six feet under."

"I see." Nick gave Kate a subtle look.

The waiter stopped by with two to-go boxes with dessert for me and Kate, and handed the check to Nick. I watched as he slipped a card into the folder and clapped it closed.

"Well, that's that I guess," he stated dryly. "Hope you both enjoyed your dinners. We'll be in touch."

And just like that, the dinner was over.

Ranger guided me out on to the balcony again for one last look at the skyline while he briefly slipped away for a moment. Maybe to have a private chat with Nick. Eventually, we made our way back down to street level.

"That was interesting," I said as I slid into our rental car.

"Agreed," Ranger replied, still sporting the vacant expression he'd had all through dinner.

"Think he knows something?"

"Yes."

I gave him a look. "What makes you say that?"

Ranger glanced over at me before pulling out of the parking garage. "He paid for dinner with my credit card."

My jaw dropped. " _Seriously_?"

He nodded. "And this isn't our rental car."

I looked down. The car looked _exactly_ like the one we'd been driving all over LA. "Sure it is." Isn't it? I looked for signs that might indicate a different vehicle. Admittedly something felt off, but I had no idea what. "Ok, but how can you tell?"

Ranger tapped the gauges above the steering wheel. "Mileage. And the VIN doesn't match." Of course Ranger would notice things like that…

"So…what exactly does all of this mean? Why all the games and deception?"

Ranger shrugged. "Power play. He wants us, me specifically, to know who'll be running the show from here on out. Brace yourself, babe. I think we might be in for one bumpy and wild ride."

Oh boy.


	13. Chapter 13

I noticed as we started our journey back to the hotel that we were going back along a different route.

"Are we trying out a new hotel tonight?" I asked.

"No."

I gave Ranger a puzzled look. "Looking for some last-minute souvenirs?"

Ranger's mouth twitched. "Babe."

"Ok, so what's the deal then? Why have you been so quiet?"

He shrugged. "I'm always quiet."

"Yeah, but not like this. You're either in worry mode or deep-thought mode. Which is it?"

He contemplated the question. "Deep thought."

"About?"

"The couple we just met."

Considering the dinner we'd had, I wasn't surprised Ranger was still in assessment mode. But I was surprised that he wasn't sharing any of those assessments with me. "Penny for your thoughts?" I asked curiously.

Ranger gave a small breath that was his equivalent of a sigh. "She's FBI."

My eyes widened in surprise. "Really? How do you know?"

"Had a conversation with her while you and Nick were getting acquainted," he replied nonchalantly.

Leave it to Ranger to go the direct route. Now I was _really_ confused though. What was an FBI agent doing with an alleged con artist? Or was this all some elaborate set-up?"

Ranger glanced over at me and smiled. "Something's burning, babe. What do you want to know?"

"Is this case part of an FBI investigation?"

"I don't think so, but there appears to be more to this situation than I initially thought."

I looked around at the scenery as we made our way through this new part of the city. "So what's the plan then? Where are we going?"

"Earning some street cred."

I made a face. "You're Ranger. Since when don't you have street cred?"

He pat the top of the car's dash. "Since my rental car was stolen and I _seemingly_ paid for dinner tonight."

Ok, he had a point. Nick Fox had made Ranger look like a naïve rookie to this whole conning game. Which maybe he was, but he was also wicked smart. And definitely not someone you wanted to mess with. I understood why he wanted to set the records straight.

"Wait, you didn't _actually_ pay for dinner?"

"I did and I didn't. The card Fox lifted was a fake. I got a text after dinner that it had been used, so while you were enjoying a final glimpse of the skyline, I went and settled the bill. In cash."

"What made you do that?" I asked in astonishment. "I would've notified those bistro security guards about Nick's whole dine and dash plan."

"It's a hospitality thing. Sometimes you've gotta play the game to make an ally."

I frowned. "Do we _want_ Nick as an ally? He seems slipperier than a sheet of black ice."

"And maybe equally unpredictable. But my gut says we can trust him, so I'm going to go with that for now."

Eventually we pulled up to a very high-end hotel. Perhaps one even fancier than the hotel we'd been staying at. I gaped at it as Ranger opened his door and handed his keys to the valet. He walked around the car and offered me his hand to help me out of the vehicle.

"Umm…where exactly are we?"

Ranger checked his phone. "There's a hotel room currently being occupied by a guest named Thomas Magnum. Kate slipped me the address for this hotel back at the bistro."

I was still confused. "Why do we care about a guy named Thomas Magnum?"

"Apparently Mr. Fox likes to use aliases. Preferably ones belonging to detectives from popular TV shows."

A lightbulb clicked on. "Magnum P.I."

Ranger gave a subtle nod. "I'm going to see if I can get access to the room. Let's plan on meeting on the top floor in fifteen minutes." He gave me a brief kiss before pulling a Batman and disappearing.

I stood dumbstruck a moment near the main entrance wondering what exactly had just happened. Then I blew out a sigh and walked into the building like I belonged there. If I'd learned anything over the years, it was that people didn't usually ask questions if you looked like you knew what you were doing.

I poked around the lobby for a few minutes trying to kill some time, but after I received a lingering glance from an employee at the front desk, I decided it was time to go on a little elevator ride. The nervous jitters set in as I waited. With every second that passed, I was almost certain someone was going to come over and interrogate me.

To my great relief, the elevator doors finally opened, and I stepped inside the safety of the double doors and blew out a sigh. Step one, complete. I pressed the button for the highest number and felt my heartrate slowly return to normal as I passed all the lower floors.

The doors opened, and I peeked out in search of Ranger. Unfortunately, I didn't see him. I was probably a little early to our rendezvous spot.

I walked over to a mirror in the hallway and started primping. No one would question a woman going over her appearance in a mirror. Women were always adjusting and readjusting their looks in the mirror.

I'd just added some confidence-boosting gloss to my lips when I heard the service elevator open across the hall. My heart threatened to fall through the floor. Crap! They were on to me! I was busted!

Someone walked down the hallway toward me, and I pretended to have an eyelash stuck in my eye. " _Keep walking,"_ I said to myself. " _Nothing to see here. Just a woman with an eyelash problem. Just keep walking_."

Despite my mental urgings, the person stopped right behind me. I was so flustered that I ended up poking myself in the eye.

"Crap!" I muttered, rubbing my eye furiously.

A hand touched the small of my back, and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"Excuse me!" I yelled as I whipped around.

Even through my teary blurred vision, I was able to recognize the hotel worker standing behind me. Because I'd know those deliciously dark eyes anywhere.

His mouth tipped into an amused almost-smile. "Babe."

"Jeez! You scared me half to death!" I hissed, still rubbing my eye. "I thought you were hotel security coming to escort me out."

"Nope. Just a worker dropping off some customer laundry." He held up a garment bag. "Can I help you find your room, ma'am?"

I gave him a look, but decided to play along with the whole charade anyway. "Sure. Guess I had a little too much to drink tonight, and all these rooms are kind of looking the same."

Ranger guided me down the hall to the room that I assumed was our target. "I believe this is your room, ma'am. Here, allow me."

He stuck some electronic gizmo into the door, and it magically opened.

"Impressive," I said with a flirty grin. "Got any other…impressive skills?"

Ranger's eyes darkened. "Only one way to find out." He followed me into the room and shut the door. Then he pressed me up against the wall, and the hem of my dress suddenly found its way clear up to my belly button.

"Um," I started, feeling lots of nervous tingles. "I'm not sure I can do this in someone else's hotel room. It feels…weird."

Ranger took a step back and grinned as I readjusted the dress. "To be continued then."

I walked around the hotel suite, taking in its elegance and snooping at the same time. Eventually, I took a seat on the plush couch in the living room. Ranger suddenly appeared behind me no longer wearing the hotel employee uniform.

"Quick thinking with the whole garment bag thing," I said. "You sure you weren't a con artist in a previous life?"

Ranger took a seat next to me. "Not my thing, babe. I try to only use deception when absolutely necessary."

I thought about his response for a moment. Ranger had always appeared to be a master of deception. But maybe he was more a master of silence. He kept his thoughts and ideas mostly to himself, which left a lot of room for people to infer what he was thinking. And unless it was crucial in some way, he usually let people think what they wanted. Even if it was wrong.

He makes an exception for me, of course. Relates more of his thoughts than he probably feels comfortable with. It's an obvious sign of his trust. And love. And it makes me feel like I have VIP status in his life. An exclusive backstage pass to the heart and soul of Ranger.

The fact that I was sitting next to such a remarkable man was starting to turn me on again. Making me regret the brakes I'd put on just moments ago.

"So, what do we do now?" I asked, hoping at the very least for a steamy make-out session.

But Ranger had already shifted gears into strategy mode, seemingly missing the lustful look in my eyes. He slipped into his all too familiar "zone" as he went stakeout mode on me.

"We wait."


	14. Chapter 14

I "waited" for probably all of ten minutes before a red flashing light in my mind started screaming BOREDOM! Then I set to work mentally singing "ninety-nine bottles of beer." By bottle fifty-six, I decided to sneak a peek over at Ranger to see what he was up to. I gave a mental sigh. Still in his "zone." Probably being much more mentally productive than I was with the quickly diminishing bottles of beer.

I skipped a few numbered bottles as I neared the end, my reasoning being that someone with that much alcohol in their system probably wouldn't know the difference anyway. Just as I was coming to that lonely last bottle, the lock clicked on the door, and I nearly shrieked in surprise. Ranger just continued to sit on the couch like nothing had happened. Cool as a cucumber.

Someday I was going to learn that whole "cucumber" business. Sure seemed to come in handy sometimes.

The person who opened the door took a few hesitant steps inside before pausing in the entryway. "That you, Manoso?" he asked into the silence. "Front desk mentioned I might have a guest."

Guess I wasn't as inconspicuous as I'd thought. Nice of them not to call the police at least.

Ranger didn't respond. Guess we were playing the whole "cold shoulder" bit. Funny how these things sometimes resembled petty marital spats. Not that I would know _anything_ about _that…_

"I assume you're here to negotiate a deal," Nick continued as he casually draped his jacket on a chair. "Let's hear the offer."

Ranger stood and walked over. I followed closely behind not wanting to miss anything important. "I'm here about the car actually," Ranger stated dryly. "It's a rental. Gotta return it in pristine condition, or I don't get my deposit back."

Nick smirked. "That car _is_ in pristine condition, mate. In fact, I think it had fewer pieces of lint on the seats." He walked over to the bar and poured himself a shot of whiskey. "Either of you care for a drink?"

I thought about raising my hand because the atmosphere was starting to feel kind of tense. Obviously Nick Fox hadn't got the memo that Ranger was of the no-monkey-business variety. Either that, or he had a death wish. It was kind of hard to tell with all these con artist types.

Nick eyed the hotel room. "Hopefully you two haven't been waiting long. Kate wanted a goodnight…kiss."

Ok, that did it. Enough was enough. I was getting pretty damn tired of his whole nonchalant attitude. Actually, I was just getting pretty damn tired in general. Past my bedtime and all. Not to mention the whole time zone issue that I still hadn't quite adjusted to.

I'm not sure what made me do it. Hormones maybe? Boredom? All I know is that I honestly couldn't stop myself. My feet crossed the distance to where Nick was standing, and my hand involuntarily grabbed his glass and tossed the remainder of his drink in his face.

"Cut the crap, Nick, and give me the damn key," I growled with narrowed eyes. I was pretty sure I could feel Ranger smiling from somewhere behind me. It only encouraged my performance.

Nick quickly wiped his face before holding up his hands in surrender. "Jeez, no need to get all pissy about it." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a key that looked familiar.

I grabbed it out of his hand and tossed it over my shoulder without even looking. Badass style. Ranger snatched it out of the air like he'd been anticipating the throw all along. Reflexes like a cat, I tell ya.

Then I took a threatening step into Nick's space. "Now listen here," I glowered, pretending I was on some movie set giving an Oscar-worthy performance. "I don't know what angle you've got going on here, and I really don't give shit. Honestly, if it were me, I'd drop your ass like a freaking hot potato. But Hubby here seems to think you might important. So…the way I see it, you've got two options: make friends, or make enemies. Your choice." A-a-and cut! I mentally took a bow.

Nick stopped smiling. "I don't respond well to threats, sweetheart."

And I didn't respond well to annoying con artists who smelled like whiskey.

A hand thrust a phone under Nick's nose, and I suddenly realized Ranger had magically materialized against my back. "What _do_ you respond to, Fox?" he growled over my shoulder.

"Ah," Nick practically stuttered after glancing down at the phone. "Point taken."

I wanted to steal a glance at what was on the screen, but by the time I had sense enough to consider it, Ranger had already pocketed the device. He grabbed my arm and headed us both toward the door. Guess it was time to go.

"Tomorrow, Fox," Ranger said over his shoulder. "10.00 hours at Perch. We'll discuss our business then."

Oh good. More business negotiations. At least on the bright side, I'd get to try Perch's brunch menu. _Mmmm…brunch._ It was mild consolation for the fact I was pretty sure I'd left my "life-changing" white chocolate bread pudding in the Mercedes look-alike.

"What was on the phone?" I asked as we walked toward the elevator.

"A language he would understand."

"You didn't place a hit on him, did you?" I asked feeling slightly concerned for the guy.

Ranger's mouth twitched in amusement. "You really think I would do such a thing?"

Umm…yeah. If the situation called for it. "No?"

"I showed him a screen with the details for a sizeable and anonymous donation to the FBI. Along with an offshore account number I was pretty sure he might be familiar with."

Ah, money. The universal motivator. "Wow. How did you manage that?"

"The same way you managed to take Fox by surprise back there," he grinned before ruffling my hair. "Trade secrets, babe."

Yeah, except I think Ranger's trade secrets are a lot more _secret_ that my secrets. And they might involve more legal gray area than I feel comfortable with. Maybe all that stuff canceled itself out this time around since we were dealing with a con artist.

"So where to now?" I asked as we exited the lobby.

"Our hotel." Ranger clicked our rental car key and quickly scanned the lot for flashing lights. The car was parked over in a corner. It looked exactly the same as we'd left it. Thank goodness… "But we may need to swing by a bar first."

"Why? You wanna get me drunk so you can take advantage of me later?" I asked with a flirty wink.

Ranger shook his head. "I want to watch you toss another drink in a guy's face. Is it bad that that totally turned me on?"

Probably only if said thrown drink resulted in a bar fight. After all, we wouldn't want to get kicked out of LA before our brunch tomorrow. I had life-changing white chocolate bread pudding with my name on it.


	15. Chapter 15

I paused at the base of Perch's first elevator. "Hang on a sec. I'm feeling some pretty intense déjà vu here. Didn't we already do this?"

Ranger gave a slight shake of his head. "Babe."

"Seriously though, why _are_ we here again? I'm not a big fan of this Nick Fox guy, and I get the feeling you aren't really either. Shouldn't we just head home and throw that damn key off a bridge?"

Ranger already had his poker face on, but I could tell he was mulling something over. "This situation is important to me," he explained. "On a bit of a personal level."

My jaw dropped. I couldn't help it. I'd assumed this had all been just for fun. A loose end needing to be tied up. One last mystery needing to be solved. An adventure. It had never occurred to me that it could be personal. Especially for Ranger. He didn't really do personal.

Probably reading my thoughts, he wrapped and arm around my waist and pulled me close. "I'll explain more later, but for the time being, let's just enjoy brunch. Besides, I bet Fox will be a little more compliant now that I've got his attention."

One could only hope.

We made our way up the second elevator and found Nick and Kate waiting for us at the same table we'd dined at the previous evening. Neither looked particularly amused to see us again. But they didn't really look hostile either. That was a good sign, right?

Ranger pulled a chair out for me, and we took our seats. Nick drummed his fingers on the table in a remarkably steady rhythm. It reminded me of Ranger's breathing sometimes. A very controlled calm.

Several moments passed in an uncomfortable and strained silence before I finally decided I couldn't take it anymore.

"So what's good for brunch here?" I asked as I opened up one of the menus. "Oh my gosh! You can get a _burger_ for breakfast? Well, I guess I know what I'll be having."

A muscle twitched in Ranger's jaw, and I wondered if he was holding back a smile.

Kate's expression relaxed a bit as she reached for a menu too. She sighed as she looked through its contents. "I don't know why I even bother reading the menu. It's not like I don't already know what I want here. They make the best French toast."

French toast, huh? My mind was torn for a minute between syrup-smothered egg bread and a savory slab of ground beefy perfection. Maybe if I begged, Ranger could just buy the place and relocate it to Trenton. Then I could spend weeks eating my way through everything on this delightful little menu. And probably wind up weighing ten thousand pounds… Yeesh!

A waiter dropped by to take our orders, and I finally settled on the burger. After all, I needed something savory to balance out the white chocolate bread pudding that I was still determined to try.

Nick and Ranger continued to play the silent game until our food arrived, and then out of nowhere Nick finally broke the silence.

"You're not the only ones interested in this case, you know?"

Ranger gave a subtle nod.

"How much _do_ you know, Manoso?"

"Some."

I glanced over at Ranger. His eyes were dark and vacant of all emotion. A similar look to the one he used when dealing with drug lords and street thugs. No nonsense. It made me shiver a little.

"The contents are a bit more interesting than just the spoils from a clever heist." Nick's eyes gleamed slightly at the thought. "But that's not of any real importance to me. Kate and I want to use it as bait to hook a tricky fish we've been tracking for a while now."

"Maybe everyone can get what they want then," Ranger stated.

Nick leaned back in his chair. "What assurances do we have that we can trust you?"

"Funny, I was just wondering the same thing," I cut in.

Nick's frown softened into a smirk. "You know what, I think I'm beginning to like the two of you. You've got the whole 'good cop/bad cop' thing going on. This arrangement might work out after all." He turned to Kate. "What do you think?"

She shrugged. "They'd probably fit in with our usual unorthodox crew. I'm game if you are."

Nick smiled and clapped his hands together. "Well, then. Let's eat."

The burger turned out to be a delicious choice. And the white chocolate bread pudding was indeed life changing. And a little body altering too. I shifted around uncomfortably after our meal debating if it would be rude to undo the top button of my pants. Maybe I'd overdone it just a tad with the carb consumption.

Although his expression hadn't changed much, I could tell over the course of the meal that Ranger had finally started to relax a little. Maybe it had to do with the shift in atmosphere. Or maybe it had to do with all the noises I'd been making while eating. What? The food was _really_ good, ok? Either way, it made me feel a little better about moving forward with this whole case plan.

Nick polished off the last of his crab cakes and turned to Ranger. "I've got to move some things into place before we get the proverbial ball rolling, but how about we agree to meet up in Seattle in two weeks?"

"What's in Seattle?" I cut in, raising my eyebrows in curiosity.

Nick's grin lit up his entire face. "Why, the honey to bait the trap, my dear."


	16. Chapter 16

To be honest, honey and traps sounded a little ominous to me. But it's not like I haven't been knee deep in this kind of thing before. Besides, I'm on team Ranger as a permanent fixture now, and team Ranger always comes out on top. So hey, nothing to worry about, right?

The flight back to Jersey was bittersweet. It was good to be heading home away from all the weird Nick Fox stuff, but I was already mourning the loss of the jets in the hotel's Jacuzzi tub along with that life-changing white chocolate bread pudding. Hell, who was I kidding? I was mourning the loss of Perch's entire menu. Maybe a quick stop by the Tasty Pastry once we touched down would help alleviate some of those post travel blues.

Ranger remained his usual quiet self for the duration of our flight. He even surprised me a little by closing his eyes part of the way through. Of course, at the time I thought he was just meditating or solving world hunger or something. It wasn't until his head slid ever so slightly to one side that I even suspected otherwise.

We'd just started our decent when I realized his hand was stroking my thigh.

"Did you have a nice nap?" I asked just barely glancing up from the magazine I'd been reading.

His eyes were still closed, but his hand was making a subtle journey north. "Who says I was sleeping?"

I dropped my magazine, and my hand caught his before it had a chance to travel any higher. No awkward or embarrassing plane situations for me, thank you very much. I reached up with my other hand and traced a line along his jaw with my thumb.

"The drool was kind of a giveaway," I teased.

I felt his mouth twitch. "Babe, I do _not_ drool."

He slowly opened his eyes to give me his classic "playing with fire" look.

"Don't worry, I cleaned it up before you embarrassed yourself in front of that attractive flight attendant."

His smile broke through as he leaned back into his seat and closed his eyes again. "Thanks. I guess you tired me out this trip."

Wow. Apparently even Batman wasn't impervious to the side effects of all our late-night sexcapades. At least it was good to know he was mostly normal.

"Sorry about that," I grinned. "I'll try to reign it in next time."

He held my hand and stroked my fingers with his thumb. "Now where would the fun in that be?"

Excellent question. Speaking of questions, I still had a few tumbling around in my brain.

"So…" I began not really sure how to segue into a question and answer session. "Weren't you going to tell me why this whole mystery case situation is so important to you?"

Ranger shifted in his seat. "I'm greedy. Rumor has it there are a lot of assets tied up in that case. Considering everything you went through, I figured you were entitled to at least part of it. And you just so happen to be the current holder of the key."

"So, this is what? A payback situation?"

He turned to look at me, his eyes soft yet serious. "Of sorts. You have no idea how much I wanted to make Ben pay for what he did to you."

"You mean Barney."

"Ben. Barney. I don't care what his real name was. He hurt you. Emotionally. Physically. Psychologically. I wanted to return the favor."

I made a face. "But he's dead. Don't you think that's payment enough for what he did?"

"No." His eyes darkened slightly. "Death was too good for him. Besides, he set Rangeman back quite a bit with that stunt he pulled. We've got a ways to go before we're back where we should be. Amber's been helping a lot with that lately, but I still have my concerns."

"Ah, yes, little Miss Mary Do Good," I muttered. I felt a slight spike in my blood pressure. "Wait a minute, I thought you said Rangeman was looking good financially."

"It is. And it's definitely moving in the right direction, but I just… I want things more stable than just moving in the right direction." He was quiet for a moment, as if contemplating something. "And if I'm really honest, I guess I want more closure. This case feels like it could give us that."

I squeezed his hand. "Why didn't you say something earlier?"

"It seemed like a lost cause there for a while, and I guess I didn't want to upset you." He brought my hand to his lips.

"Closure, huh? That's it?"

There was a beat of silence just a hair too long before he answered. A silence I should've been more wary of at the time. But I was too caught up in the warmth in his eyes and the feel of his hand holding mine. I've had a hunch for a while now that Ranger is the one person who probably knows me better than I know myself. Hindsight might suggest that at that moment he was probably using this ability against me. Can't say that I really blame him. After all, he was just trying to protect the one person he truly loved.


	17. Chapter 17

"Babe." Ranger was leaned up against the doorway with one of his telltale smirks.

"What?" I asked admiring my new rain boots in the mirror. "I've never owned a pair of these before. But I figured Seattle, rain boots… With our upcoming travel plans, they kind of felt like a necessary purchase."

"You do realize it rains more annually in the state of New Jersey than it does in the state of Washington, right?"

I frowned. "Really?"

He walked over and kissed my nose. "Just slightly."

"So, I guess you're saying I don't really need these."

Ranger did a very slow body scan. "I bet you could convince me otherwise."

I almost laughed. "You mean the Ghostbusters logo hasn't won you over yet?"

"Babe."

"They kind of fall in that 'they're so ugly they're kind of cute' category, right?"

Ranger sat on the bed and pulled me onto his lap. "Or the 'they're so ugly that they're kind of hideous' category."

"Says the man who owns a pair of black snakeskin cowboy boots." I ran a finger over one of the white ghost insignias before pulling the boots off and tossing them across the room. Ranger pulled me tighter against him.

"I can still return them," I offered.

Ranger threaded his fingers through my hair and kissed me until I saw stars.

I pulled away slightly. "Does that mean I can keep them?"

He flipped me onto my back and popped the button on my jeans. "As long as 'ugly rain boots' doesn't become a category in our closet."

I crossed my heart with my finger and smiled. "Promise."

Thirty minutes later, I was a boneless puddle on the bed and hadn't the slightest recollection of the previous rain boot conversation. We remained cuddled together in a tangle of arms, legs, and sheets, and I'd somehow slipped into deep-thought mode. And Ranger? Well, I just assumed Ranger was always in deep-thought mode.

I glanced up at him. His eyes were closed. Odd. Ranger never required much sleep. He pulled a lot of late nights with his company, and thanks to his time in the military, his mornings always started early too.

Of course, there was the possibility that he might not actually be sleeping. He might be processing deep thoughts or soaking in the details of the moment. I gave his chin a gentle kiss and snuggled deeper into his arms. They tightened around me. Guess he wasn't sleeping after all.

"You're awfully quiet," I said, glancing up again.

"Relaxed," he replied with his eyes still closed.

"Oh. Were you thinking about something?"

"Everything."

"Solving world hunger?"

His mouth twitched. "Not quite."

I crawled on top of him and ran my fingers through his dark, silky hair. "Want to talk about it?"

He thought for a moment. "You may not like what I have to say."

"There's only one way to find out."

His eyes slowly opened. "I don't think you should come to Seattle."

I tried to stay calm, but I'd never been a fan of people telling me what to do. Even the man I loved more than anything.

"Why not?"

He looked directly into my eyes. "Too much to keep track of."

"Meaning?"

"Fox is only looking out for himself. I don't even think Kate knows his endgame."

"So what? We've done this play before. We just need to have a decent contingency plan."

Ranger sighed. "Listen, it'd be different if we were playing with the home court advantage, but I don't know the area that well, and I only have a few contacts along the west coast. That means no company resources and no backup. If it all goes up in flames, I'd feel better knowing you were 3,000 miles removed from all the danger."

I pushed myself off him and got out of the bed. A millisecond later, he caught my arm.

"Steph."

"I thought we were team Ranger. Capable of all things impossible."

He shook his head. "We're not team Ranger, babe. We're team Stephanie. My goals ever since I met you have always revolved around keeping you safe. Please, just let me keep you safe on this one."

My eyes narrowed. "Who's going to keep _you_ safe, Ranger?

He kissed me. "I think I've got a few extra lives I can spare."

"And if you somehow miscalculated?" We both knew Ranger _never_ miscalculated _anything_.

"I'm Batman, remember? I'll improvise."

His smile was soft and sweet. I bet he got anything he wanted with a smile like that as a kid.

I blew out a sigh. "Fine. You win." I pulled out of his arms and went to grab the Ghostbusters rain boots off the floor.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm not going to Seattle, remember? I don't need them anymore."

"Yeah, but they're kind of growing on me."

"Oh really?"

He shrugged. "On you, anything looks cute."

Yeah, I hoped he'd remember that thought in a few days. Because I was about to slip on my cloak of dishonesty. Because there was absolutely no way I was letting that guy go to Seattle on his own. Charming smile or not.

Besides, I probably have a few lives left to spare too, right? The flaw in that thought being I'm not really one to keep track of trivial information like that. But hey, it's not like we're headed into a war zone or anything. Surely my luck could withstand Seattle. Except the problem is, my luck doesn't always like to play by the rules.


	18. Chapter 18

I'll be the first to admit, I've had some really bad ideas in the past. Like a lot, actually. So many, in fact, that I could probably have my own daytime television show someday, or maybe even a book series. But honestly, those were all chump change compared to my trip to Seattle.

Seattle was the mother of all bad ideas. And it all started when I decided to get Lula involved. But in my defense, I kind of had a major problem. I needed to purchase airfare to Seattle without raising any red flags with Ranger. Because I seriously doubt he'd just shrug it off as coincidence if I just so happened to fly into the same city, the same exact day he did. Even if I attempted to pull off a clever cover like visiting a sick relative or reconnecting with an old friend from college.

Not wanting to have a traceable paper trail, I figured I'd have someone else buy the tickets. No big deal, right? So I asked Lula. And Lula, being the great friend she is, bummed some frequent flyer miles off one of her "connections," and boom! Next thing I know, we are well on our way to one honey-trap filled weekend in Seattle.

Except now I had another problem. I needed to tail Ranger. In Seattle. Except nobody tails Ranger. Not without him knowing anyway. I'm sure you see my dilemma.

Enter Hector. Rangeman electronics genius extraordinaire. Not to mention a pretty good friend of mine. I figured he could hook me up with a few high tech electronic gadgets to make tailing Batman a little easier. So, I decided to drop by his office one afternoon. With a plate of homemade jalapeno poppers. Ella-made not Stephanie-made.

"Hey Hector," I said after knocking once on his door. "What's up?"

He gave me a quick glance of acknowledgement before focusing his attention back on his computer. "No se."

Okay. This might be a little trickier than I'd expected. Time to whip out the big guns.

"Hungry?" I asked, passing him the plate with the still-steaming poppers. Thank you Ella!

He eyed them suspiciously. "Estefania."

I gave him my best cutesy grin.

He sighed. "What you want?"

Alright! Now we're talking!

"I might need some help with a little project I'm working on."

He stood up. "I kill someone for you?"

Whoa. "No, no, no!" I said waving my arms frantically. "I don't need you to kill anyone. I just need to follow someone. You know, without them knowing."

He shrugged. "You need tracker."

"Yes! I need a tracker. Something real discreet. And one of those fancy computer programs to keep track of it."

After thinking for a moment, he raised a finger. "I give you. Uno momento."

He rummaged around in a drawer until he found what he was looking for. He handed me a tiny gizmo similar to the ones I'd found hidden in my handbag on several previous occasions.

"Cool," I said, inspecting it. "It's so...small. How do I use it?"

"You watch. I show."

Now might be a good time to mention that Hector is a very muscular Latino guy with a colorful array of gang-related tattoos coupled with a rather intimidating presence. Meaning you probably wouldn't want to run into him in a dark alley somewhere. And I kind of forgot for a moment that we were friends when he took a few intimidating steps towards me. That is until he wrapped me in a rib-crushing bear hug.

Aw, I love you too, big guy!

"What was that all about?" I asked after he broke away and took a seat at his desk.

"I hide tracker," he smiled.

I glanced around. "Where?"

His smile broadened. "Pantolones."

"You hid it in my pants? But…" I dug around until I found what I was looking for. In my back pocket. "Smooth, Hector. Very smooth."

"Si." He opened a program on his computer and turned the screen so I could see it. "You here." His finger pointed to a blinking dot on the screen. "You move, it move. Si?"

Sounds simple enough. "Got it. Think you can install that program on a laptop for me?"

He nodded.

"Great!" I turned to leave, but stopped at the door. "Oh, yeah. One more thing. Is there any chance you can keep this whole conversation on the down-low?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Just for a little while. Ranger doesn't think I can do this kind of thing very well, and I wanted to show him that I can hold my own."

Hector gave a subtle nod. "Si, Estefania. You track and show El Jefe."

Oh, I had a feeling _El Jefe_ would probably figure it out. He's crazy smart. But hopefully it would be after I had a chance to track him to the base of operations in Seattle.

"Thanks Hector," I said before leaving. "I owe you one."

"No problema, niña."

Perfect. Two problems solved. But now with the added bonus of a whole new problem. I needed to figure out a way to hide my new tracker on Ranger. Preferably without him noticing. And I had a hunch Hector's bear hug tactic wasn't going to cut it for me.

Ranger knew when the freaking barometric pressure changed. So he'd totally know if a tiny tech gizmo found its way into one of his pockets. Meaning I was going to have to play dirty on this one. I was going to have to outsmart Ranger. And the only way _that_ was going to happen was if, for some reason, his brain short-circuited. Good thing I have a few tricks up my sleeve that might just make that happen. Mwahaha!


	19. Chapter 19

It was late morning, and I felt mostly ready to put my brilliant plan into action. Okay, maybe "brilliant" was a bit of stretch. It was a decent plan.

I glanced down. Maybe it was just a plan. Or a stupid plan… Oh well. Too late to turn back now. I heaved a sigh before pressing one on my speed-dial.

"Yo," I said, once I heard the line connect. "You busy?"

"Kind of in the middle of things, and I've got a meeting soon. Is this something that can wait?"

I considered the question. "Well, it _could_ wait. But I'm a little cold here, and it's not really a problem I can solve on my own right now."

"Babe."

"No, I'm _literally_ cold. I kind of have an interesting situation going on up here in our bathroom. And it probably would be best if you came to handle it yourself instead of sending up one of the guys."

There was a long stretch of silence.

"Please?"

"If this is an invitation for a quickie, it better be pretty quick. I can't be late for the meeting."

"Roger that." I couldn't tell if he was fighting a smile or an exasperated sigh. I guess it didn't really matter as long as he made it up to the apartment.

The line dropped, and I stood like a vulnerable idiot, naked and handcuffed to our shower head. Again, probably not one of my best ideas, but whatever. I tossed the phone onto the towel I'd dropped near the shower and waited.

Several minutes passed before I finally heard movement in the adjacent room. I rattled the handcuffs.

"In here," I called.

Ranger poked his head in and crossed his arms over his chest. "Babe."

I gave a weak smile. "I had a little problem."

"You don't say." He stalked a few steps closer to me. "Do I want to know what you were doing with handcuffs in the shower?"

"You could interrogate me. _Or_ you could just enjoy an exceptionally lucky moment of yet another one of your wife's crazy plans gone wrong."

He traced a water droplet down the length of my back. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you planned this whole little mishap. Is there something you'd like to tell me before you get into any _serious_ trouble?"

The look in his eyes made me shiver. In a good way. Mostly. Except for the fact I knew I was guilty as sin.

"Uh…"

He shucked his clothes and joined me in the shower. Not exactly how I'd been expecting this all to go. I'd kind of figured he'd undo the cuffs, I'd feel him up while he was distracted by my nakedness, and then I'd pull an altered Hector move and surreptitiously drop my little tracker thingy into one of his pockets.

Okay. The plan may have sounded better in my head.

While I was deciding if things could get any worse, Ranger turned on the water. To cold. Freezing. Cold.

I shrieked and tried to jump out of the shower, forgetting momentarily that my arms were cuffed firmly above my head.

"What the hell?" I sputtered. "Are you trying to give me hypothermia?"

"Care to amend your previous statement?" Ranger asked gruffly against my ear.

Well, shit. I guess that was that. My plan was toast. Stupid Stephanie went and struck again landing me smack dab in some good ole hot water. Or cold water as it were.

Of course Ranger knew what I was up to! He _always_ knows. Hell, he's Batman! No one pulls things on Batman. And now I was getting tortured for my deception. I wanted to bang my head against the wall, but the cuffs kept me inches from achieving my goal. Ugh!

Ranger wrapped an arm tightly around my waist and pulled me flush against him. I gave a small shriek in surprise. His body was incredibly warm against all my frozen skin. And hard. And…

Wait, what? Holy crap! Was all of this foreplay? Huh. Maybe my plan wasn't ruined after all.

Oh, who was I kidding, it was _totally_ ruined. Mostly because _his_ brain wasn't short-circuiting. _Mine_ was. Especially when his hands started to… Oh. My. Gosh.

###

Ranger glanced at his watch after pulling on his shirt. "I'm slightly behind schedule."

"Sorry," I mumbled into the bed. "Won't happen again."

He grinned. "Babe. Don't make promises you can't keep."

"Good point. Won't happen again…for at least a week." I gave him a lazy smile.

He knelt down beside me and kissed my hair. "Are your wrists ok?"

I wriggled one to check. "I think I'll live. You better get going if you don't want to be late."

He tugged at a loose curl, and kissed me before disappearing out the door.

I rolled over and sighed. Operation Sneaky Pocket Drop obviously hadn't played out as I'd hoped. The good news was I had a backup plan. You know, just in case.

I pulled the Rangeman watch I'd bummed off Lester out from the nightstand drawer. After some skilled tinkering and assorted cursing, I managed to pry the backing off and slip the little tracker gizmo inside. The thing was almost identical to Ranger's. Save for the signal-emitting bit of technology inside.

This plan was probably better anyway. The pocket tracker plan only worked if Ranger was wearing that exact pair of pants while in Seattle. The likelihood was pretty slim now that I had some time to actually mull over the logistics.

But the watch... He always wore his Rangeman watch. Always. And all I had to do was swap out the traceable duplicate tonight while he slept. Easy-peasy. Well, mostly. Easier than the pocket-drop anyway.

It almost made me wonder what the whole sex ploy was about to begin with. My mind drifted back to memories from the shower. All I could figure was that my kinky Hungarian hormones had finally figured out a clever, new way to come out and play. And judging from the response, nobody was complaining. Well, mostly.

I rubbed my wrists gingerly before sliding off the bed. Maybe next time Ranger should wear the cuffs.


	20. Chapter 20

"You sure I'm not in the dog house?" Ranger asked as we headed towards Trenton-Mercer airport.

I shrugged. "You _did_ say please. And I kind of get where you're coming from on this one." Not to mention _my_ flight for Seattle was leaving in a few hours. I was such a terrible person…

"So what's it going to take to smooth things over?" he asked. "Want the platinum card while I'm gone?"

Oh man. He wanted to smooth things over. Of course he did. Because he's nice. And perfect. I probably should've said something. You know, before things really got out of hand.

But instead I narrowed my eyes suspiciously and played the humor card. "Are you trying to use money to buy my love and affection?"

He reached for my hand and brought it to his lips. "Doubt you'd fall for something like that."

I raised my other hand to my mouth in feigned shock. "You mean you didn't know I only married you for your money?"

"Babe."

I smiled for a moment. Because I love it when he looks at me like that. Except when I'm being a devious idiot. Then it makes me feel like crap.

"We're good," I reassured him. "Go do your thing and come back safe."

Oh my gosh! What the hell was wrong with me? I felt myself start to go all squirmy. Thankfully, Ranger didn't seem to notice.

He parked the Porsche in the car lot before leaning over to kiss me. The kiss probably had a little more tongue and groping than it should have considering our exposed location, but I knew _I_ wasn't complaining.

Then he brushed some hair away from my face and gave me a look so genuinely affectionate that I almost spilled my guts right then and there.

"Don't get into too much trouble while I'm gone," he added with a smirk.

Damn. I swallowed hard and forced a nervous smile.

Then, I crossed my heart with my finger and waited for the lightning to come and strike me down dead. It didn't, of course, but I wondered if every time I lied like this if I was using up one of my lives. Kind of like a credit system or something. Hopefully that wasn't the case. Otherwise, I was screwed.

"I love you," I said, trying to mentally use the phrase to justify all my recent lies and deception. For some reason, it didn't make me feel any better.

"Love you too, babe. See you in a few days." Or maybe a few hours…

He kissed me again before angling out of the car and grabbing his black carry-on from the trunk. He waved to me one last time before heading over to his chartered plane. I walked around the Porsche to slip into the driver's seat.

Once I was buckled in, my phone started ringing. I decided to answer it before pulling out into traffic. Good thing too. It was Lula.

"Steph?"

"Yeah. What's up?"

"Are we planning any fancy outings in Seattle, or is it all bounty hunting business stuff?"

"I'd say plan more on the business side of things."

Honestly, it probably didn't matter how she planned. Lula dressed how Lula dressed. We could be chatting it up with people on the street or meeting with the president of the United States. Lula didn't adapt to the situation. The situation adapted to Lula. Hopefully Seattle could handle it. If not…

I'd only given Lula a handful of specifics about our little mystery trip. Most of which were generics about needing to follow someone to find something important. It probably sounded like one of our typical work days in Jersey, which might explain why she seemed comfortable with the lack of details. It was safer this way. I figured the less Lula knew, the better.

"We doin' a spa day?" she asked. "I could definitely use a touchup on my nails."

"Not this time. We can do a mani/pedi day when we get back." If Ranger didn't lock me up and throw away the keys, that is.

I heaved a sigh. "Do you think it's too late to call the whole thing off? I'm starting to get one of those classic bad feelings." Not to mention an eye twitch. And maybe a bit of tummy trouble. But that could've been from the four donuts I'd eaten earlier. I'd been channeling a lot of my stress into some classic overeating.

"You're not telling me something," Lula stated suspiciously. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing," I blurted. "It's fine. Whatever. Let's just keep with the plan. I'm heading back to Rangeman now to let Tank and the guys know I'll be helping my sister out with the kids this weekend." What's one more lie, right?

"Ok. Guess I'll pick you up at Val's place in an hour then."

"Guess so. See you soon." I disconnected and tried to work on some deep breathing exercises. Otherwise I was probably going to hyperventilate.

With all the warning signs, you'd think I would've taken the hint and kept my cute little butt firmly planted in Trenton. Probably would've been the smart thing to do.

Funny. I've been known as a number of things over the years: hormonal, resourceful, impulsive, determined, stubborn, lucky. Definitely, lucky. Unfortunately, given how full it is most of the time, smart doesn't always make the top of my list.


	21. Chapter 21

There are moments in life when everything just makes sense. Like when you wake up wrapped in the arms of the one person who loves you more than anything. Or when you find that random candy bar buried in your coat pocket right when you need a sugar fix.

And then there are moments like these. Moments when you're muddy, wet, and barely dressed walking down a grungy back alleyway in a city that smells like salt water and rotting fish. Moments when you figure you must be on one of those "gotcha" reality shows because no one's life can be this messed up. Or moments when you wonder in what universe Wonder Woman could ever be bested by Harley Quinn.

But maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

Things actually went better than expected flying from Newark to Seattle. Nothing alerted airport security to the fact I might be a potential terrorist when I went through the body scanner, so I figured I must have done a pretty thorough job of ridding myself of any superfluous trackers. I'd even been clever enough to dump the ones I'd found into my sister's diaper bag when I dropped off my car. She'd agreed to drive it around for the weekend and was nice enough not to ask too many questions. Probably just assumed this sort of thing was all part of the charmed life of the one and only Stephanie Plum-Manoso. No big surprise there considering she'd had the pleasure of growing up with me.

Lula kept herself mostly under control and only made a small scene at the airport when a female security guard had to come over and pat her down after her jewelry kept setting off the metal detectors—Lula insisted on having the male guard with the flirty smile do it. And I only threw up once during the flight thanks to an unfortunate combination of turbulence and those extra donuts that refused to digest properly.

By the time we touched down, I was antsy and anxious. Antsy because I'd just been confined like a sardine for the last six hours between a plus size black woman and a big, burly guy who made some of my former skips look pretty tame. And anxious because I was about to start stalking Batman. In a place I'd never actually set foot in before. What could possibly go wrong, right?

Lula had organized sleeping arrangements for us at a cheap hostel downtown that she claimed had decent online reviews. The Green Tortoise. Thanks to horror movies, I wasn't exactly thrilled to be sharing sleeping space with a bunch of travelling strangers, but I figured for a few nights, I could probably make do. Maybe I'd sleep with one eye open. Just in case.

Once we'd grabbed our luggage, we took a shuttle from the airport straight into the heart of the city. The streets were teaming with masses of people even though it was already starting to get dark. Guess it was one of those cities that never slept.

I glanced around and admired the skyline. Towering skyscrapers as far as the eye could see. Their lights flickered against an overcast backdrop and reflected off the nearby body of water. It was mesmerizing.

Something savory wafted through the air as we toted our luggage toward The Green Tortoise, and I remembered all the awesome dining experiences I'd recently had in LA. Hopefully Seattle wouldn't disappoint.

We checked in, and I situated my stuff in one of the complimentary lockers before giving my bunk the once over. It wasn't so bad. Definitely not the penthouse suite at Rangeman, but at least it was clean.

I plugged my laptop in to the nearest outlet and said a small prayer that Ranger hadn't made any last minute changes to his itinerary. It wasn't super likely, but when working with a con artist, who knows? The thing booted up, and I clicked into the program Hector had graciously installed for me.

Just like magic, a little blinking beacon appeared on my screen. Good news. We were in the right city. And apparently Ranger was still wearing his watch.

I zoomed in to get a better look at the cross streets before pulling out a map. I couldn't believe our luck! Ranger's tracker was only a few streets over! Seriously, what are the odds?

"What's got you so happy?" Lula asked as she glanced over my shoulder.

"Good news. The person we're tracking is practically our next door neighbor."

"Cool! Does this mean we have more time to go exploring? I wanna be sure to do some souvenir shopping. I gotta find me something good to commiserate this trip."

"You mean commemorate."

"That's what I said."

I sighed and decided to let the debate drop.

After putting the laptop away with my other belongings, I grabbed my handbag and a jacket.

"I'm not sure what the local time is, but I've gotta eat something. I didn't get much of a chance on the plane thanks to my queasy stomach, so I'm beyond starving. Wanna go check out some of the local food options?" Maybe something deep friend and sodium infused. And a chocolate-based chaser for dessert.

"Hell yeah!"

Lula pulled on a pink faux fur jacket and grabbed a bright, sequined handbag. "I saw this place called 'What the Pho' on the ride over. Something like that's gotta be pretty good, right?"

I had no idea, but considering I was hungry enough to eat sawdust, I wasn't feeling particularly picky.

"I'm game, I guess. Do you think we can check out these cross streets while we're at it?" I showed Lula my map. "I'd kind of like to see where we're headed tomorrow." And maybe catch a glimpse of my man while I was at it. One could hope anyway.

"Good idea. Then we should probably hit one of them dive bars after."

The dive bar plan didn't seem all that great to me. Especially considering my history with alcohol. Not to mention my recent tummy troubles. But we were on vacation. Sort of. Who knows? Maybe it would be fun.

###

Turns out Lula and I never made it to "What the Pho." Mostly because a pair of familiar golden arches caught our attention before we could find it.

"We're definitely branching out tomorrow," I said as I practically inhaled my second cheeseburger. "It's not every day we're in Seattle, so we need to broaden our horizons and try some new things. Like the sea food or something."

"You got it, white girl. New things tomorrow."

A contented, dopey grin spread across Lula's face when she took a giant slurp of her milkshake. "But you gotta admit, sometimes the familiar stuff's the way to go."

I grabbed a handful of salty, golden fries and smiled. I couldn't have said it better myself.

After I polished off my side order of chicken nuggets, Lula and I headed off towards the cross streets marked on my map. We walked around for a while until we reached what I assumed was our final destination. It made sense. A big, fancy hotel stared back at us from across the street. The Four Seasons. It had Ranger written all over it.

"Do you think they've got some rooms available for tomorrow night?" I asked. "It could make tailing our guy a little easier."

"Guess there's only one way to find out." Lula grabbed my arm and started dragging me across the street. "Go get your little white booty in there and ask."

We'd just stepped into the lobby when I felt a sharp elbow jab in my ribcage.

I glared over at Lula. "Jeez!" I hissed. "What was that for?"

She pointed across the lobby. "Don't look now, but I think I just saw Batman."

My heart froze in my chest as my eyes connected with the person Lula was pointing at. Yep, there was no doubt about it. It was definitely Batman.


	22. Chapter 22

Along with Robin and their arch nemesis, the Joker. Interesting. When I thought I was going to be tailing Batman, I didn't think I'd actually be tailing a guy dressed in the whole black rubber suit with the pointy-eared cowl and cape. I frowned. Something funny was going on here.

I walked up to the front desk and flashed my best smile.

"Hi there, my friend and I are interested in a room for tomorrow night. Do you have any available?"

The guy looked at me like I was crazy. Not a good sign. "I'm sorry. The hotel's completely sold out. Has been for a couple days now."

"Oh."

He did an apologetic sigh. "You must be from out of town."

I nodded.

"Sorry about that. There's this impromptu comic book convention going on this weekend. This guy called the hotel owner a couple weeks ago saying that his original venue fell through and asked if he could buy out all the conference space and some of the guest rooms for the event. Guess the price was right because now we're ground zero for every comic book nut from here to Portland."

I glanced back at the caped crusader and his sidekick. This was definitely an interesting turn of events. I wondered if Ranger knew about the convention when he booked his room.

"There any way I could get tickets for the comic book thing?" I asked.

The front desk guy made a face like he was trying to break the news that my favorite dog had just been run over. "Sorry, it's sold out too."

"Of course it is," I muttered under my breath.

I tried to think of some other excuse to come back and spy, but the jet lag was getting to me. I was fresh out of ideas, clever or otherwise.

"Thanks," I said before turning back to Lula.

She was busy ogling some guy dressed as Thor. I grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the door.

"Did you see the size of those muscles?" she gasped as she fanned herself dramatically. "I'll bet every part of that man is super."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "We're not here for Thor."

"Then who are we here for? You haven't exactly filled me in on the plan yet."

I opened my map and tried to think. "The plans have changed." I think.

"So that means I can go back in there and get Thor's number?"

"No!" I snapped. "We need to be at that convention tomorrow. I've got one of those feelings."

Lula sighed. "No offense, but your feelings don't always land us in the best situations. Know what I'm sayin'?"

I gave Lula a look. The truth was, she had a point. But I was in no mood to hear it.

"Listen, I've got the beginnings of an idea here. Do you think any of the local clothing stores are open this late?"

We both looked around. The odds weren't very promising. Some restaurants were open. All the bars were open. But not a lot by way of retail.

"Maybe we can check out the market tomorrow," Lula offered. "I'll bet they've got lots of shops there."

I shrugged. Guess we didn't have much of a choice.

Lula eyed one of the bars across the way and nudged me with her elbow. "Wanna check that place out? It looks like it's got some personality."

I watched as a lady with spiky, pink hair and a badass leather jacket headed inside. It wasn't exactly my scene, but I didn't want to be the one to put a damper on Lula's fun.

"Maybe just for a while."

Lula's whole face lit up. You would've thought I'd just handed her a check from Ed McMahon.

She adjusted her tank top and furry jacket before looking me over. "There's gotta be something we can do to spruce you up a bit."

I glanced down and shrugged. "What are you talking about? I look fine."

"You look like you just stepped off a airplane." She reached over and popped the top buttons on my blouse. Then she frowned. "Hunh. You wearin' one of them sports bras or somethin'?"

I gave her my best Burg glare. "No. Some people aren't as blessed as others when it comes to bust lines."

She thought for a moment. "You wearin' socks?"

"Yes, but…"

Lula motioned for me to take my shoes off. I rolled my eyes but did as I was told. The next thing I knew, Lula was stuffing my socks into my bra. I wanted to crawl under the nearest sewer drain and die.

"There," she said after several long, agonizing moments of her fondling me in public.

I glanced down. My chest looked grotesquely lumpy, and one side seemed slightly bigger than the other. I made a face.

"Sorry, but it's not like I had a lot to work with here," she huffed.

I heaved a sigh. Good thing I had already met the man of my dreams. My eyes zeroed in on the pair of rings on my left hand. Suddenly, my stomach started to go all queasy again. I couldn't tell if it was from all my recent bad decisions or that extra order of chicken nuggets. Hopefully it was the chicken nuggets.


	23. Chapter 23

Once my tummy trouble resolved itself by way of a quick stop by the bathrooms, I went and took a seat at the bar and ordered a ginger ale in hopes of settling my stomach. I nibbled on a few pretzels and watched as Lula struck up a conversation with a guy that looked like a cross between a bear and a refrigerator. All angles and fur.

Sometimes I envied the ease with which she started talking to random strangers. She was such a people person. Probably a result from all the years she'd spent working the streets. Everybody liked Lula. In small doses anyway.

The refrigerator guy gave a deep, throaty laugh at something she said, and I suddenly found myself missing Ranger. I considered texting him until I remembered I had my sister's phone for the weekend. Just another precaution in case _my_ phone was being tracked by the guys back at Rangeman.

After thirty minutes of people watching, I decided I'd reached my limit and headed off to go find Lula again. She'd ditched refrigerator guy and was now chatting it up with someone who bore and uncanny resemblance to Bert from Sesame Street—complete with unibrow and green pants. Blech!

"I think I'm going to head back to the hostel," I said.

Lula glanced up from her drink. "You feelin' alright? You're lookin' a little green."

I shrugged. "I may have overdone it on the chicken nuggets." Not to mention all the guilt was really starting to get to me.

"You need someone to walk you back?"

"Nah, go ahead and enjoy yourself. I'll be fine."

Bert and Lula offered sympathetic smiles before resuming their conversation. I left the bar and glanced back over at the hotel across the way. Somewhere in one of those fancy rooms was my husband. Unless he was out plotting and scheming elsewhere tonight.

Something that felt a lot like worry suddenly crept into the back of my mind. I shrugged it off. If there was anyone who could manage even the hairiest of situations, it was Ranger. He was quick-witted, smart, and cunning with a wide range of skills that frequently surpassed the realm of normal.

Which made me wonder why he decided to marry someone like me in the first place; an impulsive, reckless, and frequently ill-equipped wiseass from the Burg. Hopefully it wasn't just my looks. Given my predisposition for unhealthy junk food, my years of sporting a healthy, curvy figure were probably numbered.

I gave a wistful sigh as I turned down one of the side streets toward the hostel. Ranger was probably lounging on a plush, king size bed right now. Laptop open, sipping a chilled bottle of water. And here I was heading back to nightmare on Pike street.

Okay, The Green Tortoise wasn't _that_ bad. Mostly it reminded me of college. People were constantly coming and going, the sleeping space was shared, bathrooms were a little sketch, and there was the unmistakable hint of freshly smoked pot lingering in the air. The nostalgia was so intense that I almost started panicking thinking I had a history final in the morning.

Feeling exhausted, I decided to head straight for the showers and snuggle into one of Ranger's black work t-shirts. Before dragging my tired butt into bed for the night, I plugged my laptop in and zoomed in on Ranger's tracker signal. I kissed my finger tips and pressed them to the blinking dot on the screen in a silly attempt to send Ranger my love and sweet dreams. My last coherent thought before drifting off to sleep was that just a few streets over, maybe Ranger was thinking of me too.

###

Something startled me awake several hours later. A sound awfully reminiscent of a chainsaw.  
Thinking I was about to become a scene from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I fled my bunk so fast that I think I might have actually breached the sound barrier.

By the time my brain had a chance to catch up with my fight or flight instincts, I realized I was standing in the middle of Pike Street with a small audience of onlookers. I gave a little finger wave before beginning my walk of shame back inside.

The desk attendant didn't appear to be hacked to pieces by some chainsaw wielding maniac, so I figured the whole chainsaw thing had probably been a nightmare. I offered a slightly embarrassed smile before heading back to my bunk. Then things started to make some sense.

The chainsaw I'd supposedly heard was in fact my bunk mate, Lula. This shouldn't have surprised me considering I've shared living space with her a time or two before. But for whatever reason I'd completely forgotten about the snoring. Go figure.

I glanced at a picture of my smiling nieces on Val's phone and frowned. The local time on the display said a quarter to five. Gross. I was a pretty firm believer that anything before seven didn't actually exist. Unless sex was somehow involved.

Thinking about sex made me think of Ranger. I mean seriously, how could it not?

He was probably up by now too. Most likely in the hotel gym starting the day off with a healthy dose of rigorous cardio activity. I licked my lips. What I wouldn't give to be waiting in his shower when he was through... It practically killed me knowing it was almost a real possibility. Except for the blowing my cover bit.

I gave a regretful sigh before climbing back onto my bunk. Lula snorted in her sleep before rolling over into her pillow. Her chainsaw noises softened to jigsaw decibels, and I closed my eyes hoping to catch a few extra moments of sleep before my alarm went off. Not even ten minutes later and the growling chainsaw returned. At that moment I realized any hope of falling back to sleep was completely shot to shit.


	24. Chapter 24

Lula gave a giant stretch as she walked back into the room after her shower.

"I slept so good last night, I practically feel like a whole new person."

She gave me a poke on my bed, and I grumbled something slightly profane in return.

"How'd you sleep, white girl?"

I glanced out from under my pillow.

"Peachy," I replied through gritted teeth.

"Hunh. You end up on a pea or something, princess?"

Good thing I was still a groggy mess or else I might have been tempted to jump off the bed and strangle her.

"They've got breakfast ready for all us guests," she continued. "Maybe that'll help improve that nasty mood you got goin' this morning."

I glared at her but eventually decided food probably wouldn't hurt. It was a pretty consistent cure-all for me. Especially breakfast. And dessert. And the occasional snack.

I padded off towards one of the available bathrooms and did my best to salvage what hadn't already been ruined by jet lag and sleep deprivation. The final result wasn't pretty, but it was passable. I snuck a quick peek at my laptop to check on Ranger again before heading to the community room for a bite to eat.

"You gonna fill me in on the plan for today?" Lula asked as she finished her juice.

"We need to come up with some impromptu super hero costumes."

Lula raised an eyebrow. "You gonna sneak yourself into that super convention, aren't you?"

I nodded.

"Who's gonna be there? A skip?"

I shook my head. "Not exactly. There's…this case. And…this guy." I paused for a moment realizing I was sounding a lot like a brainless idiot. "It's pretty complicated actually. Let's just say that I think we need to be at that hotel today, and the comic convention's a decent cover." Except for the minor problem that the event was already sold out and we didn't exactly have admission tickets. I figured we'd cross that bridge once we'd tackled the whole the costume dilemma.

Lula shrugged before a sudden twinkle appeared in her eyes. "Who ya plannin' on goin' as?"

"Something simple," I replied dryly.

She smoothed her shirt and grinned. "I think I'd make a pretty good Hawk Girl, don't you?"

Maybe if Hawk Girl lived off donuts and Big Macs for a year…

"Considering we may be forced to use bedsheets for capes and sleep masks with eyeholes to conceal our true identities, I'm thinking we shouldn't be going for anything too elaborate here."

Lula gave an involuntary shudder. "No way in hell would I ever be caught dead wearing no bedsheet. Besides I brought me enough variety in clothing to cover an outfit for just about any occasion. And I do mean any."

Considering the weight and size of her suitcase, I totally believed her.

I polished off a second slice of toast and my coffee before grabbing my shoulder bag from the table. "Guess we should get going then." I turned to Lula. "To the market?"

"To the market!"

###

Let me start by saying that Pike Place Market is awesome. No, really. That's not me being sarcastic. It's literally one of the coolest places I've ever been. It's this giant melting pot of tourists and locals with everything from contemporary art to locally caught seafood to fresh, vibrantly colored produce. And for me to notice produce of any kind is a pretty big deal. Just sayin'.

And the flowers are incredible! The whole place is flooded with that intoxicating fresh-cut blossom aroma. But those smells definitely paled in comparison to something else Lula and I stumbled upon. We rounded a corner, and there it was: The Daily Dozen Doughnut Company.

Oh. My. Gosh. I seriously thought I'd died and gone to heaven. I stood and watched like a kid in front of a Christmas display window as a machine dropped ring after ring of donut dough into the heated oil. And that smell! If they ever marketed a fragrance called fresh-made donuts, I'd bathe in it every day. No joke.

The one and only drawback? The Daily Dozen didn't do Boston Creams. However, this slight indiscretion was more than made up for by the fact that my dozen mini doughnuts were crackling fresh and still warm when they were handed over to me.

Those little frosted gems were so good that I swear I practically had an orgasm. Maybe multiple. Good thing Ranger wasn't around or else he might have been jealous.

Lula and I spent some time wandering the upper levels of the market, stuffing our faces and keeping our eyes peeled for potential costume pieces. Unfortunately there weren't as many clothing vendors as I'd been hoping, but Lula and I scored big time when we dropped to the second level and found a comic book shop. Bingo!

Golden Age Collectables was an impressive assortment of every possible building block for any comic book lover's dream. Comic books were everywhere, both vintage and modern. It also had movie posters, knickknacks, and life-size super hero cutouts to stand guard over your very own fortress of solitude. But to my ever growing disappointment, it didn't have a lot by way of costumes.

As I was just about ready to give up on finding anything, Lula came running toward me waving something wildly in her arms.

"Oh my gosh!" she practically squealed. "It's _so_ perfect!"

I braced for impact, but thankfully she managed to put on the brakes before crashing into me.

"Is this for me or you?" I asked curiously.

"Considering the cup size, it's _totally_ for you. Check it out."

She held up a deep red bustier with dark ribbon crisscrossing down the back. I frowned.

"Sorry, I seriously doubt there's a comic book hero named Super Slut."

Lula made a face. "Oh. Hang on a sec. It's backwards."

She turned it around, and low and behold there was a pair of golden wings painted high across the chest. Lula had somehow managed to find Wonder Woman lingerie.

"Gee, I don't know, Lula. That seems a little…revealing, don't you think?"

Once the words had escaped my mouth, I did a mental face palm. This was Lula I was talking to. You had to be at least 90% naked for something to be classified as "too revealing."

"No way. This here is fate, Steph. I mean, hell, it's Wonder Woman! You've totally gotta buy it!"

I checked the price tag. The damn thing was on sale.

"What about a skirt? Or the boots?"

"Shit, Steph. _I_ got a blue skirt you can borrow, and I think we can find some knee highs just about anywhere."

I sighed in resignation. "Oh, alright. I'll buy the bustier."

Lula cheered in victory.

"But what about you? Did you find any costume stuff?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I found me a mask and some wings. I think I can manage the rest."

Guess that was that then. We made our purchases and snagged a couple extra bags of donuts before leaving the market.

###

Thanks to a roll of aluminum foil, some dumpster diving, and a lucky find at a fashion boutique, our costumes soon started coming together.

I came out of the hostel bathroom and spun around. "What do you think?"

Lula dug her hands in her hips. "Well, I doubt Wonder Woman goes around spinning like that unless she's wielding some badass swords. But yeah, I think you're definitely channeling the whole super hero vibe."

I had to admit I was starting to feel pretty badass in my costume. Even without the swords. Lynda Carter, eat your heart out.*

"I like your wings," I said after taking in more of Lula's appearance.

She was dressed in a short, black faux leather skirt with a stretchy, leopard print tank top, a black fuzzy jacket, and black ankle boots with big diamond-encrusted buckles. I wasn't sure she looked anything remotely like Hawk Girl, but the wings and the face mask seemed to go a long way in pulling the look together.

"I modified 'em," Lula grinned, pointing to her wings. "That foil stuff can make just about anything into a super hero accessory."

We both laughed.

I grabbed my foil-covered Lasso of Truth, checked my computer one last time, and headed for the door.

It was show time.

*For those of you who aren't comic or TV junkies, Lynda Carter is Wonder Woman from the TV series.


	25. Chapter 25

Turns out those fancy hotels know a thing or two about security. As in there was like a small army of security guards posted at all the main entrances to the hotel checking tickets for the whole impromptu comic convention. This of course posed a major problem for me and Lula because we were still lacking those important little things to get us through the door.

No matter. Stephanie Plum Manoso was no quitter. I stood and ran through a quick mental list of options.

Option A: Flirting and Skirting. As a true blue, born and bred Jersey girl, flirting kind of came with the territory. I've flirted my way out of countless traffic tickets and in to a number of exclusive clubs. The drawback? Lula. Flirting to get in to a restricted location called for a certain level of finesse. And whatever level that was, Lula didn't exactly have it. She was too big and loud to delicately schmooze her way into places.

Option B: Duck and cover. Sometimes if there was enough commotion, it was easy to blend into the background and slip right past security. You simply made it look like you belonged, and nobody seemed to notice. Ranger was an absolute master of this approach. Me? Eh, I did ok.

The drawback here? Again, Lula. Unless we were on the set for a Tyler Perry movie, Lula had a hard time blending anywhere. The costumes probably helped a little, but Lula had a voice that carried and a rather…ahem… _large_ personality. Definitely a challenge to hide when trying to fly under the radar.

Option C: Sob story. We could always try for the whole we-lost-our-tickets ruse. Because seriously, what kind of people dress up like this without some kind of function to go to? At least the story would be believable. This option seemed like a real possibility too. Again, except for Lula.

The last time Lula tried to invent a "sob story," she'd said her twin sister only had a month to live and was pregnant with her cousin's father's triplets. That kind of thing's only believable in a soap opera script. Which is no doubt where she picked it up in the first place.

And last but not least, Option D: Eager Employee. With a few quick wardrobe adjustments, Lula and I could probably sneak in as caterers or members of a setup/take down crew. This option didn't require a lot of scheming, but it did require more clothing we'd have to track down. Again.

Plus, I was kind of getting attached to my super hero costume. It was pretty darn awesome, and in all honesty, I was relishing the opportunity to strut around like the badass super hero I'd dreamt about being my entire life. So the serious drawback to Option D was that I didn't get to be Wonder Woman anymore. Needless to say, it quickly dropped to the bottom of the list.

After weighing the possibilities, I finally settled on Option A. Flirting had never let me down in the past, and my boobs were looking rather voluptuous and distracting in my fancy, new bustier. It was a win-win. Hopefully.

I'd already filled Lula in on the plan and was about to choose a likely target when I bumped into this poor, disgruntled guy. He was waving his hands dramatically and looked like he'd just been told he'd lost his job before finding out his wife cheated on him. His eyes were red-rimmed and pathetic. On a scale from one to ten, he was definitely a yikes.

"I'm sorry," I quickly apologized.

The man gave a long, agonizing sigh. "No, no it's okay. Don't mind me." He covered his face with his hand as his shoulders began to shake. Jeez.

Lula gave me a look like this whole thing was starting to make her uncomfortable. I did a palm's up gesture. It's not like I'd meant to bump into this guy.

"Are…are you ok, sir?" I asked.

"Woe to me!" he practically wailed. He looked up toward the sky. "I thought I could do this. I really did."

Now _I_ was beginning to feel uncomfortable. But mostly because we were starting to attract some serious attention. I pat his shoulder sympathetically hoping people would just ignore us.

"I'm…sorry," I offered again in a lame attempt to console him.

He sniffed and dabbed at his eyes. "Billy would have loved this," he added, pointing a shaky finger at the hotel.

"Who's Billy?" Lula asked. I gave her a look. She ignored it.

"Billy was…he was…" And then the guy lost it again.

"Sorry I asked," Lula whispered behind her hand at me.

"Can I take you somewhere?" I offered quickly. "Do you want me to call someone?"

He shook his head and pulled out a hanky to blow his nose. Wow, I didn't know people still used those things. Mostly in a pinch, I just use my shirt. I'm all about convenience.

"That's very kind of you. You see, Billy was my…"

"Your son?" Lula blurted.

The man's eyes glistened. "He was _like_ my son." He offered a weak smile. "Billy was my best friend."

"Like the real Batman and Robin."

He frowned. "I'd say more like Superman and Krypto. Billy was my dog."

Lula made a face. "Hunh. Have to say, did _not_ see that one comin'."

I elbowed her hard in the arm before turning my attention back our grieving acquaintance. "You were going to take your _dog_ to the comic book convention?"

I was finding it kind of difficult to believe that The Four Seasons would allow the furry friend variety into their immaculately kept hotel space. Seriously, the rooms were like $500 a night.

"Of course! Billy was a star," the man continued. "Worked eight straight years in show business. The hotel was very excited to have him." He paused. "Up until a week ago when…" Then he started blubbering all over again. Good grief!

As bad as it sounds, I wasn't all that focused on the poor guy's sob story anymore. My mind had zeroed in on something else slightly more interesting. And it was currently in the midst of hatching a plan.

"You know," I began "maybe this convention is going to be too much for you. I'd hate to see you have a mental breakdown in there."

Lula raised an eyebrow at me. I shot her a quick "just go with it" look.

"You think?" he asked, still dabbing at his eyes.

"Yeah. That's gotta be way too much stress on a person. First, losing Billy. Then, being here…"

The man frowned again. "But I've already bought the tickets. I'd hate for them to go to waste."

I made a face like I'd just had a brilliant idea. "Hey, I've got an idea. My friend and I just noticed our tickets have gone missing. We were going to see if the hotel had record of our purchase to get in, but maybe using your tickets would be easier. I'd hate to inconvenience the hotel staff with everything going on today."

The man mulled it over before blowing his nose dramatically. "You know, maybe that isn't such a bad idea. I'm obviously in no shape to attend this thing, and Billy would've hated for his ticket to go to waste."

I shrugged nonchalantly. "We'd be happy to do it. For Billy," I quickly added for effect.

A small smile appeared on the man's face. He pulled out two tickets from his jacket and handed them to me. It took all my will power not to do a happy dance right there in front of him.

"For Billy," he said.

"For Billy," Lula and I agreed in unison.

Turns out Plans A through D wouldn't be necessary after all. Lula and I had just miraculously stumbled upon Plan E. A plan that I've grown oddly familiar with over the years. A plan I like to call Blind Dumb Luck.


	26. Chapter 26

My heart gave a nervous flutter as Lula and I handed our tickets to the security guy at the door. He kind of had the whole receding hairline and middle aged paunch thing going on. I doubted I'd ever see a flabby stomach anywhere on my favorite security team back home. At least not if Ranger had anything to say about it. But that didn't keep me from wondering what the overall appearance of Rangeman would be like ten years from now. Or even twenty. I held back a laugh thinking of some of the guys with graying hair and crow's feet.

My moment of silent musing was interrupted by Lula as we entered the crowded lobby.

"Well, shit. This place is practically overflowin' with all them nerdy-ass dweebs and hunky wonders of the universe. Not to mention all them villainous evildoers."

She grabbed my elbow and started dragging me toward the very center of all the activity. "C'mon! Let's go see if we can find that Thor guy who was here last night. He and I got some unfinished business, if you know what I'm sayin'."

Oh, I knew _exactly_ what she was saying. Hopefully one of poor Thor's super powers was invisibility…

I stopped for a moment and scanned the room. This didn't feel like Ranger's scene at all. And to be honest, it didn't feel much like Nick Fox's scene either. But then again, I'd only been around the guy a grand whopping twenty-four hours, so what did I know?

Yeah. What exactly _did_ I know?

The answer wasn't making me feel all that great. My sole intention for this whole little trip was to keep an eye on Ranger. Maybe step in as backup if necessary. But somehow my plan hadn't morphed much past the whole tracker idea.

I guess I'd been thinking that if I knew where Ranger was, I could hang out discreetly at ground zero and keep an eye out for any suspicious activity. Of course, the whole comic convention had kind of blown that plan out of the water. Everything felt suspicious when you were surrounded by a bunch of costumed weirdos. There were way too many mystery faces. Way too many variables. And on top of all that, my spidey sense had already started going crazy.

It was all adding up to one very bad situation.

This is why I do better working _with_ Ranger. He comes up with the clever plans and we modify them as necessary based on my instincts. Sometimes. Operating rogue made me realize just how lame my planning skills really were. No wonder Ranger had found me "entertaining" all those years working for my cousin, Vinnie… I was a mess.

All the costumes were starting to make my head swim. I needed air. I needed space. And I needed to think.

"I should probably check my laptop again," I said leaning over to Lula. "You think this place has free Wi-Fi?"

"Bet it's password protected," she replied. "Doubt this place does anything free."

From everything we'd seen, she probably had a point.

"I better go see if I can find the business center then. We're pretty much dead in the water without an internet connection."

Lula waved me away. "Yeah, yeah. Go do your thing. I'll just hang here keeping an eye out for Mr. Mighty Fine Mega Muscles."

Honestly, I wasn't super enthused about splitting up, but Lula didn't really deserve to get dragged into this whole mess either. Especially if things went south. Which was a real possibility when I was involved. She'd probably be happier mingling anyway.

I pushed my way through several masses of people before I found a hallway that looked promising. Bad news though. It seemed all the doors were closed. I casually tried one, but as I'd suspected, it was locked. Of course it was. Nothing's ever easy.

Time for a new plan. I made my way over to the elevators. If Ranger was in fact still at the hotel, chances were pretty good his room was somewhere on the top floor. Or at least one of the top floors.

Not sure what my plan was if I actually found his room, but I'd had a pretty decent streak of luck so far with the whole admission ticket thing. Maybe I'd get lucky again.

A handful of other hotel guests waited with me for the elevator. Some in costume, some not.

"You make a pretty awesome Wonder Woman," a guy said to me as we stepped into the elevator.

I gave a polite smile. "Thanks. And you make a good…"

He had a bad bleached hair job, green sweats, and a long-sleeved orange t-shirt. Was there a super hero called the Reverse Carrot?

"Aquaman," he grinned as he filled in my blank.

"Right."

He extended his hand toward me. "Dennis," he stated.

"Diana."

"No shit," he laughed. "That's pretty awesome."

I shrugged. Hopefully this elevator ride would be coming to an end soon. I glanced over at the wall with all the floor selections. Most were lit up. Bummer.

A couple floors passed, and the elevator occupants thinned. Unfortunately, my new pal Dennis still remained on board.

He took a step closer to me, his shoulder practically pressing against mine. "I've got a pretty spectacular view from my room," he stated.

"That's nice." I did my best to ignore the underlying invitation in his comment.

His voice lowered as he leaned in closer. "The bathroom's pretty spectacular too. Maybe you'd like to see firsthand how good I am at manipulating water."

Well, that was a first. A super hero-related pickup line.

"Gonna have to pass, I'm afraid." I flashed him my ring. "Already married. To Batman."

"Sure you are," he muttered. His shoulders visibly drooped.

Ha, if he only knew the truth…

Thankfully he got off the floor before I did. Otherwise things could've gotten awkward pretty fast. Especially considering the whole situation that was about to unfold.

The elevator doors opened and I cautiously stepped out into the empty hallway. The tingles at the back of my neck started up almost immediately. Guess it was safe to assume Ranger was somewhere nearby.

I heard a door open down the hall and froze mid step. A familiar voice broke the silence.

"Agreed. I'll go see if anyone's made contact yet."

My heart skittered around in my chest. I had about twenty seconds to vacate the hallway before I was caught. By Nick Fox.

The door for the stairwell caught my attention, and I made a run for it hoping Nick wasn't as fond of taking the stairs as Ranger was.

I stayed completely motionless for what felt like an eternity before I finally decided I could breathe again. I heaved a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, any relief I felt was short-lived.


	27. Chapter 27

If I stopped and thought about it, I think I'd kind of understand some of the whole luck thing. Maybe. I mean it makes sense that if you're lucky sometimes, you should probably have an equal number of times that you're not lucky. Like some cosmic balance thing.

And let's be honest here, I'd just had a whole slew of lucky events. Like way more than was probably normal. So, really I should have been expecting things to shift. That would have been the smart approach.

But as per my usual, I didn't see my bad luck coming. Until it was too late, of course.

I just stood there in that stairwell thinking Nick Fox was my one and only problem. And he was. Until I heard the other voices.

"What do you think I should do with the bodies?" a gruff voice asked a floor or two beneath me.

 _Bodies?!_ Something told me this was _not_ a conversation I wanted to overhear. An overabundance of curiosity, however, kept me glued to my perch.

There was a long stretch of silence. "We're late. Just dump 'em somewhere out of the way. We should be long gone before anyone comes across them."

Several moments passed, and suddenly the footsteps grew louder. This would've been a good time for me to get the hell out of there, but for whatever reason, I just stood there, completely frozen to my spot. By the time I finally had sense enough to move, one of the "body" guys saw me.

I had two options: run like hell and hope these guys weren't very good at the firing range, or play dumb. Considering there were already multiple bodies somewhere suggesting these guys were armed and dangerous, I decided to *hopefully* buy myself some time by playing dumb.

"Lookin' a little lost there, sweetheart," bad guy number one said as he cornered me against the wall. I swallowed hard.

He had on a red devils mask and dark clothes. If I were a bad guy, I think I'd at least _try_ to throw people off by dressing like a hero. But hey, I guess that's just me.

Bad dude number two said something in another language. He was dressed in a dark hooded cloak with a silver mask. Definitely looked to be the scarier of the two. Both in dress and body language.

Devil guy said something back, and a tense discussion took place before hooded guy gave a subtle nod and disappeared out the door leaving me alone with the devil. I didn't take this to be a very good sign.

"You guys doing some photo ops downstairs?" I asked, trying my hand at being completely oblivious to my current bad situation.

"No."

"Bummer. My son would totally freak if I got a picture with you. He's totally into…"

I think the devil raised an eyebrow under his mask waiting for me to complete my sentence.

"Well, whoever you are."

"The Red Skull."

"Of course! The Red Skull! He absolutely _loves_ that guy." Note to self: brush up on super hero knowledge for future calamities.

"Listen, lady, I got an agenda here, and it doesn't involve small talk." He pulled out an intimidating gun with a silencer and waved it toward the stairwell. Not sure what else I could really do at this point, I started walking.

My head was already a mess of panic, guilt and fear, so I did what I always do. I cried.

It honestly started out as more of a distraction to mess with the devil guy, but pretty soon the tears turned legit. I cried because a smart Stephanie would've been back in Trenton eating greasy pizza at Shorty's right now. And because the odds were growing higher by the minute that I wasn't going to get a chance to say goodbye to everyone I cared about back home. Because I still needed to tell Ranger how much I really loved him. And I cried because I wasn't wearing a cute pair of underwear. I mean, seriously, who wants to go out wearing ugly underwear?

"Quit with the waterworks already," Red Skull growled, pressing the gun deeper into my back.

Interesting. Maybe the devil had a soft spot after all. Or maybe I was just annoying him. Probably shouldn't press it.

"S-sorry," I sniffled. "Where are you taking me?"

"None of your business," he sneered.

We were almost to the bottom floor when I heard rapid footsteps race down the stairwell behind us. Red Skull stood behind me and held the gun firmly to my back.

"Not a word, understand?"

I nodded frantically.

"We need to go," called a familiar voice. "Now."

Silver Face suddenly appeared and grabbed Red Skull by the elbow, inadvertently pulling both of us toward the door to the lobby.

"But what about the girl?" Red Skull asked nodding over at me.

"Take her with us."

Crap. I really hated becoming a hostage. It upped the likelihood of me getting a bullet in my body like 900%. So logistically speaking, now would've been a good time for me to make a run for it. But of course, I didn't.

And the next thing I knew, we were back roaming through comic book mayhem. My eyes frantically searched for Lula, hoping she would recognize my subtle signs of distress. But apparently I was still on my bad luck streak because Lula was nowhere to be found.

Figures. She was probably off making out with Thor.

The dark masters of the universe walked me through the crowds and down a hallway, growling threats behind me with each step of the way. By the end, I was shaking so bad I could barely walk.

"Where are we going?" I asked again. I needed to stall. No, I needed to run. I needed to do _something._

"Outside," Dark Hood answered.

Sure enough, a door at the end of the hallway led out to a lot for extra parking. And of course, because it was Seattle, the rain had started. And not just a light mist, mind you. We're talking a decent steady stream of water dumping from the sky.

"So, um, I think I'm good to go now guys," I said trying for the whole cutesy approach. I shivered slightly from the damp cold. "You can just leave me here. Pretty sure I can find my way back inside."

Dark Hood said something I couldn't understand to Red Skull.

Red Skull sighed. "You're right. Just one more loose end."

Uh oh. Not good. I felt that whole annoying surge of panic start coursing through my body again. If there was a step below hostage, it was not being useful anymore. Not being useful upped the likelihood of me being dead like 900%.

Much to my dismay, we parted ways with Dark Hood as Red Skull walked me down a grimy alleyway. It smelled like a putrid mixture of garbage, saltwater, and rotting fish. And maybe imminent death. I gagged.

We came to a stop in front of a couple of dumpsters. I think I may have whimpered.

"Turn around," Red Skull growled.

Then the waterworks really started up again. This time because I was terrified.

"If you want money, I've got it," I pled. "Loads of it. You can have every last penny."

"Shut up," he said through clenched teeth. "It's not like I enjoy doing this."

I felt a small glimmer of hope. Maybe the tears were starting to break this guy down.

"Then don't," I begged. "I'll _never_ say a word. _Ever!_ I swear!"

"Sorry, sweets. Guess today's not your day."

Bummer. Guess not.

I squeezed my eyes closed and started praying like crazy for a miracle.


	28. Chapter 28

Miracles come in all shapes and sizes. And mine decided to come in the shape of a female court jester. To be honest, I kind of assumed that if any comic book person was going to save me, it was probably going to be Batman. Or on the really off chance, a rather voluptuous Hawk Girl. But considering my circumstances, I wasn't going to be picky.

I was halfway through making outlandish deals with God when I thought I heard a commotion going on behind me. I glanced back to find Mr. Red Skull unconscious on the ground, a black and red clown standing over him. The infamous Harley Quinn.

I stood, gaping at her. "Thanks," I finally managed.

She kicked Red Skull's immobilized form for good measure before taking a step closer to me. Her eyes connected with mine and widened ever so slightly. Could've been surprise. Could've been something else. Maybe my makeup was a mess. Who knows?

"I don't work for free," she stated bluntly.

Not having the foggiest clue what she meant by that, I reached for my handbag. Surely an exchange of funds would settle my debt. Unfortunately, my handbag was no longer slung conveniently over my shoulder. It was probably back in the stairwell at The Four Seasons. I must have dropped it when I was taken by surprise by the dark lords of the underworld.

"You know, if you come with me back to the hotel, I'm sure I could write you a check or something."

She gave me a look like I was being an idiot. "A check?"

"Or I could stop by an ATM and get cash if you prefer."

Her eyes narrowed. "I _want_ what's mine. Where's the case?"

"Listen lady, all I've had with me today is a black shoulder bag. I didn't take any suitcases."

She took a menacing step closer to me. "I'm in no mood to play games."

I tried to run, but she cornered me against the wall and brought her forearm across my neck. I gasped and sputtered trying to reclaim some air.

"Not…game," I managed to spit out. "I…don't…know…"

Then things started going all cloudy, and everything sounded like it was underwater. I was probably losing consciousness. It wasn't my favorite thought, but considering the rest of my day, it was probably par for the course.

###

I woke up some time later on an uncomfortably lumpy cot. For a moment I thought that maybe someone had politely returned me to The Green Tortoise hostel. It was wishful thinking.

Turns out my new cot had the fun addition of a fancy security system. Lovely, evenly spaced, wrought iron bars, to be exact. Actually, I don't think they do the whole wrought iron thing anymore. Titanium, maybe? My mind started swimming again. Then my lungs inconveniently forgot how to work.

I laid there gasping and panicking for several agonizing moments before my survival instincts started to kick in. The details of my cell slowly came back into focus, and my heartrate slowed to somewhere just below stroke level. I righted myself and tried to process my surroundings.

I was definitely in a holding cell. My clothing was still more or less in place-thank goodness for small miracles-but I'd lost my foil crown, my bracelets of submission, and my lasso of truth. What anyone would want with those was beyond me, but whatever. Maybe they were in evidence.

A whistling, middle-aged officer suddenly came through the door. Seattle's finest. He glanced over at me.

"Glad to see you're awake, sleeping beauty. Have any idea how you ended up here today?"

I shook my head. It was the million dollar question.

"You were brought in under suspicion of solicitation," he continued. "Someone called you in saying you were standing outside a hotel propositioning guests. We showed up and found you passed out in the back with a stash of marijuana well over the legal limit. Any of this sounding familiar?"

 _Solicitation? Seriously?!_

"I'm sorry, I think there's been a _huge_ misunderstanding here. I'm not…I don't… I'm _not_ a prostitute."

"Oh yeah. You all prefer the term 'escort' these days, right?"

"Wrong. I don't prefer _any_ term because I honestly don't do that sort of thing." I glanced down at my left hand. "See?" I said shoving my arm through the bars. "I'm married."

"Let me guess, he's your pimp?"

I started banging my head on the bars.

The officer rushed over to try and keep me from giving myself a concussion. "Stop that. There's no need to get all worked up. I'm sure once they book you, you'll be in and out of here in no time."

That's kind of what I was afraid of. The only person who _might_ think to look for me here was Lula. And if she didn't come by to clear this whole mess up soon, I was going to have solicitation and drugs listed somewhere on my permanent record. The thought made my stomach churn.

I wondered if it was too much to ask for another miracle.

I didn't have to wait long for my answer. Not ten minutes later, and another officer came through the doors to inform me that I had a visitor. I crossed my fingers and hoped my cosmic luck had somehow shifted back to the positive.


	29. Chapter 29

It hadn't. I watched in horror as the familiar face of my husband walked into the room. Dressed from the neck down as…Ironman? Twilight zone music started playing somewhere in the back of my mind.

I almost managed a smile, but the waterworks were already starting up again. For different reasons this time.

Ranger turned to the guards. "Would you mind giving us a moment?"

The officers politely stepped outside, and then it was just the two of us. Separated by lies, guilt, and of course the holding cell bars.

My eyes dropped immediately to the floor. This was so much worse than embarrassment. It was worse than humiliation. The guilt that was eating me up inside made me wish I could shrink to the size of a dust mite and disappear completely.

Ranger came and stood next to the bars. "Solicitation, huh?"

His words cracked the barrier I'd been trying so desperately to hold in place. The dam broke, and I suddenly morphed into a wailing, blubbering mess of a human being.

"I'm _so_ sorry!" I bawled hysterically.

Ranger reached for me through the bars and without a word, pulled me into his arms. The embrace felt like such a relief that for the smallest of moments, I almost forgot I was in a holding cell on charges for solicitation and drug possession.

He brushed the matted hair away from my face and rubbed my arms.

"The corset's nice," he added, a hint of amusement etched in his voice.

I cried harder.

"There's not much I can say right now to make you feel better, is there?"

I gave a small shake of my head as the tears continued to fall.

"What would you say to some room service and shower therapy?"

I pulled back slightly to glance up at him. "They don't do room service…in prison!" I wailed.

Ranger gave a bark of laughter. It made me furious and yet somehow elated all at the same time.

"Don't worry, I think the prison situation is getting sorted out as we speak."

As if on some cosmic que, the middle-aged officer knocked and suddenly reentered the room.

"Looks like this really was all a big misunderstanding, Mrs. Manoso. My apologies for the…well, the rude remark earlier."

He unlocked the cell door before sliding it open. "You're free to go."

I wasn't sure whether to be relieved or terrified.

###

The drive back to The Four Seasons was an emotionally laden blur. I was still coming off an adrenaline high, and my mind had officially quit processing my day about the time Red Skull had me splayed execution-style up against the alley wall. And I still was having difficulty wrapping my mind around the whole Ironman thing.

"What's with the costume?" I finally asked.

"Felt like Batman would have been too on the nose."

He didn't look over at me, but there was a hint of humor in his voice. It felt a little forced, but I knew it was probably better than the alternative.

"It helped validate the story to spring you from prison," he added. "You were my date to the comic convention."

I rolled my eyes before sinking lower in my seat. "Is there even the tiniest of possibilities that we could just forget this whole thing ever happened?" I asked.

Ranger raised an eyebrow. "Do you really want me to answer that?"

"Yes!"

"Not a chance in hell."

Oh good. Glad we got that cleared up.

I glanced over at him. "You seem to be taking all of this rather well. You don't seem at all surprised to see me."

He shrugged, and the faintest hint of a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. "I've had some time to process."

At least one of us had.

"How much time?" Based on the darkening skies, it seemed like we were somewhere in the ballpark of late afternoon to early evening.

Ranger glanced at his watch and did some quick calculations in his head. "A week."

My eyes widened in surprise. "I'm sorry, did you just say a _week_?"

He gave one of his classic singular head nods.

"As is in the seven days kind of a week? Or it feels like it's been a week since I've seen you kind of a week?"

"Not really sure there's a difference, but I'd say more like the first one."

I shifted my weight in my seat so I could face him. "You _knew_?"

"Babe."

"But…how could you possibly…I…how…?"

"I got a call when one of my company laptops left the state."

Oh my gosh! Duh! How could I have possibly missed that?

"And Hector told me."

" _Hector_ told you?" That rat. Well, he could just say goodbye to any future jalapeno popper surprises.

"My employees know who signs their paychecks, babe."

I made a face. "I believe _I've_ been the one signing the paychecks lately."

"True." He paused. "Hector was just looking out for you. He didn't want anything bad to happen on his watch."

I blew out a sarcastic breath. "Kind of cut things a little close there, don't you think?"

Ranger frowned. "Maybe. And that's definitely something we need to talk about, but we're both coming off an extremely long day. My vote is to go clean up, order something to eat, and watch a few hours of pointless TV. _Then_ we can go over what needs to be addressed."

I heaved a sigh and resumed my position of staring blankly out the window. It was pretty hard to argue with logic like that.


	30. Chapter 30

A couple hours later, I stepped out of Ranger's ginormous bathroom coated in a contented shade of lobster red and sporting a humidity-infused frizz mess for hair. Ranger was busy doing something important on the plush, king-sized bed.

"Feeling better?" he asked, glancing up from his laptop.

I gave a timid nod before joining him. He closed the computer and looked me over.

"Think you need a trip to the ER?"

I shook my head. "Nothing's broken, and I'm not spurting blood anywhere."

Ranger reached over the side of the bed and came back with a brown paper bag. "A little birdie told me you made quite a scene at the Market over these."

I glanced inside. "Oh my _gosh_! I thought I was hallucinating that smell!" I quickly shoved a donut into my mouth as my eyes simultaneously rolled back in my head. "These are _so_ good," I moaned.

"You're telling me." Ranger's eyes were already dilating to black.

"You talked with Lula?"

Ranger smiled. "She was predictably chatting with the most muscular male super hero downstairs. I filled her in on the change of plans."

"Change of plans?"

"I assumed you'd be staying here for the night. Unless you wanted to go back to the hostel…"

"Oh hell no!" I interrupted. "I slept like five whole minutes last night."

Ranger raised an eyebrow. "Rowdy bunkmates?"

"Bunkmates?" I almost laughed. "Have you ever been near Lula when she's sleeping?"

"Babe."

"You should thank your lucky stars. That woman sounds like she swallowed a chainsaw."

Ranger offered another small smile. Then he reached up and brushed his thumb across my cheek. "I missed you."

"We've been apart like twenty-four hours. How could you have possibly missed me?"

"I _always_ miss you."

"Oh."

There was an awkward silence filled with some heavy emotions that I wasn't quite ready to deal with, so I decided to change the subject.

"So what the hell happened today?" I asked.

Smooth, Stephanie. Very smooth…

"Which part?"

"The part where I got picked up by the cops for drugs and solicitation."

Ranger thought for a moment. "Tech issues," he replied casually.

" _Tech_ issues?"

"I wasn't actually aware of a problem until your tracking devices split locations."

I contemplated the statement. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Tracking _devices?_ As in _plural?_ Exactly how many do I have on me?"

Ranger made a face like he wasn't really sure he wanted to answer that. "You're down to two. Well, one currently."

I glanced down. Underneath my plush bathrobe, I was completely naked. I raised an eyebrow. "You had a tracker implanted in my hip, didn't you?"

Ranger laughed. "Don't think it hasn't crossed my mind." He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it. "I told you this ring was one of a kind."

I looked down at the diamonds adorning my finger. "There's a tracker in my _wedding_ _ring_?"

"Babe."

"When exactly were you planning on telling me this?"

"Now." He kissed my hand again.

Part of me wanted to be mad. I mean seriously, what kind of crazy weirdo has a tracking device put in his wife's wedding band? But then a better question came to mind. Where would I be if he hadn't?

"Wait a second. You knew where I was yet I still wound up in a holding cell at the local police station. Care to explain any of that?"

"I tried to tell you that I don't have backup here. Fox and I had a bit of an unfortunate situation with some tear gas this afternoon. I'm guessing Fox's guy was feeling antsy. Once I recovered, I went after him, but that's when I got the text that your tracker signals had split. Tank directed me to the stairwell first where I found your shoulder bag with the laptop. By the time I made it outside, the cops had already shown up."

"And what? You just let them take me?"

His expression was stern and unapologetic. "I wanted you safe while I dealt with the Fox situation."

"So you had me locked up?"

Ranger started rubbing his forehead. "I could've made you stay in Trenton, you know."

"Yeah? Well why didn't you, Ranger?" My blood was reaching its boiling point, and I was itching for a fight. I grabbed the closest projectile I could find-a pillow-and flung it at Ranger. He caught it before it made contact. My temper spiked.

I grabbed more pillows from the bed. "Why didn't you stop me?" I yelled hurling pillow bomb number two. "Why didn't you lock me up at Rangeman like a stupid, good-for-nothing dog? Why not just handcuff me like a felon in one of your soundproof interrogation rooms?" Pillows three and four sailed through the air, and I could already feel myself losing steam. "Why not just put me in the Rangeman tower like a freaking modern day Rapunzel?"

My arms suddenly felt like they were made of lead. I could barely lift them. "Why did you _marry_ me, Ranger?" I yelled. My body collapsed on the bed. " _Why_?"

I stared blankly up at the ceiling before I realized my whole face was damp. I hadn't even noticed I'd been crying.

Ranger let me be after that. He didn't yell. He didn't break anything. He didn't even launch a pillow attack of his own. He just walked into the bathroom, showered, brushed his teeth, and climbed back into bed before turning out the lights.

The continued silence between us spooked me. I wondered if I'd pushed things too far this time. First with all the lies, then with my angry tirade.

Maybe Ranger was silently wondering why he'd married me too.

Minutes or hours passed as I slipped in and out of sleep. But sometime during the night my body and mind finally found a state of peace. The moment a strong yet gentle arm pulled me up against my favorite heat source.

I curled myself around him without even thinking. And just as I was drifting off to sleep again, I thought I heard him answer one of my questions. The only answer I really needed to hear.

"Because, babe. Because I love you so much it hurts."


	31. Chapter 31

I slept hard that night. Dreams flooded my subconscious as I tried to sort through all my jumbled thoughts and emotions.

I became trapped in a grainy comic book scene, running in stop-motion segments away from faceless terrors. The comic book gradually morphed into this shadowy black vortex of time and space, and I fell forever with nothing to grab onto, nothing to stop me or slow me down. Then I dreamt I was frantically trying to reassemble something that had shattered into millions of pieces right in front of me, and none of the pieces would go back together.

And finally I dreamt of a face. It was a pale, ghostly white image with something unmistakably familiar in the heavily shadowed eyes. Something else caught my attention too. Something I knew I recognized. My mind attempted to sort through the details piece by piece, but I couldn't put a finger on what I was looking for. If I could just see her one more time...

The dreams gradually dissolved into muddied blurs of lines and colors as the smell of fresh coffee pulled me from my sleep. I squeezed one eye open and grimaced. My body felt like I'd been run over by a freight train.

I stretched and groaned. "Remind me never to go head to head with the League of Doom again," I mumbled into my pillow.

After checking the time, I rolled out of the bed and tightened the tie on my bathrobe. Ranger was already in the other room, long legs stretched out under the desk, sipping coffee and reading the paper.

I almost did a double-take. The scene was so domestic and ordinary, it almost seemed surreal.

Ranger glanced up when he heard me. "You sleep ok?"

I shrugged. "Better than at the hostel."

He shifted his weight and contemplated something for a moment. "Mind if we continue the conversation from last night?" He refolded the paper and set it aside on the desk.

I poured myself a mug of coffee. "Guess now's as good a time as any."

Ranger came and sat down next to me on the couch. He set my mug down and took my hands in his. His piercing gaze held mine. "I shouldn't have told you not to come to Seattle."

Huh. I'm not sure what I had been expecting here, but I knew that wasn't it. I was speechless.

"It's true I wanted to protect you," he continued, "and I didn't really want you involved in this. But I shouldn't have issued it as an order." He paused as if to gather his thoughts. "You're not one of my men. And I'm not your superior in the military. You're my wife, and I should've let you say what you needed to say on the matter. Maybe then we could've reached a palatable solution somewhere in the middle."

My voice caught in my throat. "Why are you being so nice about all of this? Especially after I lied and then ambushed you with all the pillows last night."

He shrugged. "You needed to blow off some steam. And I can deal with pillows." He reached over and tucked a stray curl behind my ear. "If you had found one of my guns, I probably wouldn't have been quite as nonchalant."

No kidding.

Leave it to Ranger to crack a joke during an incredibly serious conversation.

"Funny."

He smiled, and it melted my heart.

"So why _did_ you let me tag along to Seattle?" I asked.

"I thought you'd have some fun with Lula at the convention. I set it up so you could both get in."

"Wait, what?" My eyes widened in surprise.

"You didn't really believe that whole story about the dumb dog, did you?"

I thought back to the dramatic scene with the guy and the lucky admission tickets. Crap. I'd totally been duped.

"No…"

"Liar," Ranger smirked. "He's one of Fox's guys. Some washed up actor. Drives me nuts. We had a bet going whether or not you'd buy his crazy sob story."

I cringed at my stupidity. "Sorry. Can I claim extreme sleep deprivation as an excuse?"

Ranger leaned over and kissed me. "Doesn't matter. I'm still out five hundred bucks."

The kiss made me go all mushy and tingly inside. "Maybe I can make it up to you," I offered suggestively.

The tie loosened on my robe, and I gasped as his warm fingers brushed my bare skin. "Want to go dress up as Wonder Woman again?" he asked, pulling me toward him. I felt him smile just before his lips brushed my neck.

I made a face. "You know, I would, but it's just that the top's kind of a hassle with all the ribbons and strings and everything in the back."

Ranger picked me up off the couch and carried me back to the bedroom. "That's ok. I can use my imagination."


	32. Chapter 32

Ranger's fingertips traced a series of absentminded shapes and patterns along my arm. It was something he did whenever he slipped into deep thought mode. Especially after sex.

"Something you need to talk about?" I asked.

His fingers stopped mid motion as if he was considering the question. "Fox's plan backfired, and we lost our guy."

Something told me there was probably more to the statement than the reiteration of what he'd already told me, so I decided to press further. "What happened?"

"Not entirely sure, but I've got this bad feeling there's another player in this game."

I glanced up at him. "What makes you say that?"

"It's complicated. But Fox has the case."

My jaw dropped. "How did _he_ wind up with it?"

"Knew its owner. The guy Barney worked with. Fox likes the thrill of a challenge and wanted to add the rumored case to his trophy collection of things considered 'impossible to steal.' Needless to say, he was a little disappointed when he discovered the key to unlock the thing was missing."

"So where do _you_ fit into all of this?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"One of my contacts caught wind that Fox had the case, so he helped me arrange a meeting."

I sat up a little. "The trip to LA."

"Right."

"Because _we_ want the case."

Ranger nodded. "We do."

"For recompense and because I have the key."

He nodded again.

"But Nick needed to use the case," I continued, remembering the conversation from our brunch at Perch, "to lure out some bad guys. Someone probably near the top of the FBI's most wanted list."

"Actually," Ranger corrected, "he wanted to use something that was rumored to be inside."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Classified military documents," he said in answer to my unspoken question.

I started piecing some of the details from the conversation together. "You have an extensive military background," I stated. "At the classified levels."

Another nod.

"So you two struck a deal. Top secret military documents to nab the bad guys in exchange for the case."

I paused at a sudden realization. "Oh my gosh! Please tell me you aren't guilty of treason."

Ranger's chest shook in a silent laugh. "Babe."

"Well, don't just sit there laughing. Are you?"

He shook his head. "Fox wanted my help to work with Kate to make documents that _appeared_ authentic. We spent our first night in Seattle forging all the paperwork. It was tedious, but the results seemed pretty convincing."

"Yet the bad guys remained unconvinced."

Ranger frowned. "I'm not so sure. I think Fox's guy bought the scam, but he accused us of double-crossing him before he used the tear gas. Claimed there had been a woman following him, and for a while, I thought it could've been you."

I gave a laugh. "Sorry to disappoint, but the only person I've been tailing on this whole misadventure is you."

He nodded. "I assumed as much, but Nick knew you were in the building yesterday for the convention. He thought you figured everything out, which is why he was pretty pissed when he believed you purposely foiled our plans."

I toyed with a loose string on the sheets. "How'd you know it wasn't me?"

Ranger shrugged. "Honestly? I didn't. So I had Tank run a history on your tracker data. Nothing definitive came back that you'd been following anybody. Aside from me, that is."

I remembered back to some of my disaster-ridden experiences from yesterday. Then I had a crazy thought. "Fox's guy didn't happen to have weird accent, did he?"

"Probably something Eastern European, why?"

"Holy crap!"

Ranger leaned forward. "What? Do you know something?"

"Yeah… He may have decided to take the stairs to and from that meeting with you yesterday, and I may have had the misfortune of bumping into him and his accomplice. They weren't exactly what I'd call friendly." I swallowed hard and my mouth went dry. "Oh my gosh!" I croaked.

"What?"

"I totally forgot! How could I possibly forget?" I was up on my feet, waving my hands frantically in the air. "They said they had bodies to get rid of! I think they might have stuffed them in a storage closet or something." My stomach lurched. "Why hasn't this place been crawling with forensic investigators and cops? Shouldn't everyone be going all crazy over the discovery of dead bodies?"

Ranger considered my statement. "Maybe it's not what you thought. Maybe they…"

"Oh, it's _totally_ what I thought," I blurted. "It's why they decided to take me on that little walk out to the alley of rotting fish guts to make sure I wasn't going to be a problem anymore."

"Wait, what little walk? _"_

"That's why my trackers split locations. In fact, it was getting a little dicey there up until…"

Ranger's eyes darkened to pools of very intense black, and the muscle in his jaw tightened to a point I'd never seen before.

"You didn't _know_? About me being a hostage?"

He gave a barely perceptible shake of his head. "I thought you'd pissed some guy off at the comic book thing, and he paid you back by setting you up for the whole weed and prostitution charges."

I made a face. "Seriously?"

"Did you see how you looked in that outfit? I assumed nerds were drooling all over themselves, and one took things a little too far. I figured you probably embarrassed him in front of his nerdy friends, and he retaliated."

I wasn't sure whether to be flattered or offended.

"Yeah, that's not exactly how things went down." It was a way better story, though. If anyone asked later, I was probably going to use it.

"Then how _did_ it go down?"

I blew out a sigh. "After Lula and I made it inside the hotel, I decided to head to the top floor because that's where I assumed you'd be staying and potentially conducting business. But then Nick came out into the hallway, so I panicked and ducked into the stairwell. The scary Eastern European whack jobs were disposing of their bodies and noticed me up at the top. At some point, I guess I dropped my shoulder bag. Then Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Scary held me at gun point until we exited the building, at which point they decided they didn't need a hostage anymore. The guy in the devil mask must have drawn the short straw because he was the one who walked me down the alley with every intention of making sure I remained silent as the grave. Then out of nowhere this Harley Quinn chick showed up and cleaned the guy's clock. Then she asked me where…"

Well, what do you know? I think I'd just figured out who Ranger's other player was. Some woman was after this case too.

"Where what?" Ranger pressed.

"Where the case was."

He thought for a moment. "You said she was dressed as Harley Quinn? As in that jester girl from the Batman comics?"

"Yeah. She had on the whole red and black costume and the white face makeup."

More silence as he processed the new information. "Why did she think _you_ had the case, and why'd she set you up with the cops?"

I shrugged. "How the hell should I know? Maybe she thought it would be funny."

Ranger got up from the bed. "I need to touch base with Fox. We probably need to pull whatever security footage we can from the comic convention to see what we can get on this Harley Quinn person. Maybe she could lead us to the Eastern European guys." He paused before pulling on a t-shirt. "And I should probably find out where those bodies ended up."

I cringed. "Yeah…"


	33. Chapter 33

An hour or so later, the comic convention came to an early end as the Seattle police department flooded The Four Seasons. It's what my friends back at the Trenton PD would have probably called a shit storm wrapped in an investigative nightmare. Every single guest from the convention had to be questioned about the bodies along with all the hotel occupants.

Therefore, Ranger and I spent most of the day quarantined to our room. Which is about as awesome as it sounds. I watched reruns of old TV shows while Ranger worked on his computer. In some ways it reminded me of some of our early stakeouts together back during my skip-chasing days. Ranger all down to business and me bored and restless. I guess some things never change.

Nick called mid-day saying that he'd managed to "acquire" the security footage from the convention. No one bothered asking the logistics of how. Mostly because such questions would probably come back with some not-so-legal answers.

An hour later, Ranger opened a file in his email with the security segments from the convention including any and all attendees dressed as Harley Quinn. We watched through the footage together waiting for our phantom clown to appear. Unfortunately, she didn't.

"You're sure it was Harley Quinn?" Ranger asked me for the like the millionth time that afternoon.

"Well, now wait a minute, maybe it was Deadpool," I said tapping my chin. "Or Captain Cold. Or maybe it was Robin. It's just so hard to remember these things."

Ranger gave me a look. "Smartass."

"Well, jeez! You've only asked me that question like a hundred times in the last ten minutes. And the answer hasn't changed. I'm pretty damn sure it was Harley Quinn. She had the whole perfectly curvy figure and perky breasts, and she looked like she belonged on a deck of playing cards. Unless I was totally hallucinating everything."

"Babe."

My eyes narrowed. "I was _not_ hallucinating."

Ranger gave me one of his almost smiles. "But you _were_ taken into police custody for having more than the legal limit of pot."

I rolled my eyes. "That _wasn't_ mine. And _you_ are starting to drive me crazy."

He stalked towards me and pressed me up against the wall. "Am I now?"

His hands slid under my shirt, but before I could bat them away, my mind short-circuited and I moaned. I tried to tell him to cool his jets, that now probably wasn't the best time for a romantic encounter, but every time I opened my mouth, more moans of approval escaped.

"But…the cops," I panted in a last ditch effort to slow things down.

Ranger's wolf grin appeared as he leaned down to nuzzle my neck. "I'm sure they'll give us a minute."

Yeah, except right now I didn't want just _one_ minute. I wanted _hundreds_ of minutes. I wanted that long, tantalizing buildup that Ranger was so good at. And I _really_ wanted all those glorious explosive bits at the end. Firework shows had nothing on Ranger.

My eyes rolled back in my head. This was all feeling way too good. Like maybe that whole short buildup thing was going to work out after all. And it probably would have too.

Except for the knock at the door.

Damn.

I whimpered my disappointment as Ranger tugged my pants back over my hips and handed me the remainder of my discarded clothing from the floor.

I glanced down. "You're probably going to want to do something about…that."

Ranger followed my gaze and grinned. "Maybe they'll leave faster if I answer the door as is."

The logic was good, but it was also awkward and a little rude. I sighed. "Just take care of it."

The grin got bigger before he pulled me up against him. "I was _trying_ to take care of it."

I felt a rush of heat flood my cheeks. Ugh! Men!

Ranger gave a small laugh before straightening my shirt. With one final, chaste kiss, he headed over to answer the door.

"Officers," he stated politely before ushering them inside.

Considering what had been going on less than five minutes ago, I had absolutely no idea how he managed to keep such a straight face. Probably just another one of his clever superpowers.

We all sat down, and I gave my account of what happened with Dark Hood and Red Skull. Especially the bit about overhearing them discussing stashing some bodies. However, I conveniently left out the bit about me stalking my husband in Seattle along with the part about our mysterious case-seeking vigilante. Mostly because it only made my story more complicated.

Speaking of complicated, Ranger's story, although entirely believable, was a complete lie. He and Fox had decided to omit the details from their little sting operation. Mostly because it was off the books. And because Fox was still a wanted fugitive. At least on record. Apparently he'd struck some under-the-table deal with the FBI.

From what I'd gleaned from Ranger, Nick and Kate were working in this weird fuzzy gray area outside of FBI jurisdiction. If they were caught during any of their covert operations, the department would claim zero involvement, and the two of them would be left to fend for themselves.

In some warped way, they were kind of like the government's bastardized version of Santa Claus. They did all the dirty work of creating the ultimate naughty list. Then they snagged, tagged, and bagged the untouchable targets by any means necessary to drop off on the agency's front doorstep neatly wrapped with a convenient mostly-legal bow. And if someone caught a glimpse of "Santa" doing his job, like say, the police, the agency could claim the whole thing didn't exist, and the poor blokes left holding the bag would be carted off to Siberia or wherever the hell Diesel said the naughty guys with superpowers ended up.

It was clever, really. In a devious kind of way.

The officers eventually decided they were satisfied with our statements. We were given permission to leave the hotel but were expected to remain available for any additional questioning or if we were needed to ID any suspects. Having been through all of this a time or two before, Ranger and I didn't even bat an eye.

The cops promptly departed to continue on with their interrogations, and I contemplated the likelihood of Dark Hood and Red Skull being caught by the police. Considering they'd somehow managed to give Ranger the slip earlier, I didn't figure it all that likely.

Probably meant our Little Miss Harley Quinn was long gone too.

"Can I take you out to dinner tonight?" Ranger asked once we were alone again.

I shrugged. "Since when do you have to ask me out to dinner? You know I could never pass up a fine dining experience."

Ranger wrapped his arms around my waist. "Maybe I was feeling romantic."

He leaned down to kiss me, but I pulled back. "Let me get this straight. You apologize for a situation _I_ made a mess of, you let me vent my frustrations by attacking you with pillows, and now you want to take me out for a romantic dinner?"

"Yes."

"And you're _sure_ it's not my birthday?"

"Pretty sure. But if you want, you can wear your birthday suit later. I seem to recall some unfinished business we still need to attend to."

Ranger is so efficient, that we may have attended to some of that unfinished business even before leaving for dinner that night. Not to mention a time or two after. Because not only is Ranger efficient, he's incredibly thorough too.


	34. Chapter 34

_A/N: So, I guess I didn't write ch. 29 very well because I need to clarify something: Ranger knew Steph was going to follow him to Seattle for a week. She wasn't in prison for a week. Lula would've found her long before that. And she wouldn't have been unconscious for that long either. So, sorry about that. Now...on with the story!_

The next morning my eyes opened to a serious Ranger sitting on the bed, already dressed with two steaming mugs of coffee.

"We need to talk," he stated.

Uh oh. I felt a small flutter of panic. Talking wasn't usually a good thing. Especially when clothing was already involved.

I sat up and stretched my arms above my head before accepting the extra mug. After a few sips, I was feeling somewhat ready for a conversation. Well, as ready as I was going to be anyway.

"Okay. Shoot."

Ranger leaned back against the bed frame. "I got a call from Fox this morning. He and Kate are in a bit of bind after what happened the other day, so he wants to pool our resources again to hopefully speed up the apprehension process. Said he'd like me to hang back for a few extra days." Ranger paused. "And I thought I'd ask if you wanted to help out this time around. Extend your stay too."

My eyes widened in surprise. "Wow. Really?"

"Really."

It felt kind of like that moment when I pried the pesky training wheels off my bike when I was a kid. Or the day I got my first bra. I was so excited I didn't take that thing off for like two weeks straight. I was finally moving up in the world; getting a chance to play in the big leagues.

"And you're sure about this?" I asked. "I mean, I kind of have a rather colorful background including numerous inexplicable car explosions and a recent trip to the greybar hotel."

Ranger almost smiled. "True. But there'd probably be less of a chance of those things happening if you were working _with_ me."

"Good point." I set my coffee mug on the night stand before wrapping my arms around Ranger's neck. "You know, you're pretty smart."

He leaned down and kissed me. "Why's that?"

"I'm not sure if you purposely meant to do the whole reverse psychology thing here, but honestly, I've had enough 'fun' in the so called 'emerald city' to last me for a while. I think I'm ready to go home."

He pulled me onto his lap. "You sure?"

"I'll admit, the circumstances would be infinitely better if you were coming back with me, but I already have a plane ticket for a flight out with Lula this afternoon. I can go home, get situated, and make sure there hasn't been a coup at Rangeman. Then we can celebrate when you get back."

Ranger gave me a look. "A coup?"

"Hey, you were the one who said some of the men were calling you soft. They're probably looking for a new alpha leader this very minute."

Ranger gave a low growl before flipping me onto my back. "Not funny. And I'm _not_ soft."

No kidding.

"Do I look like I'm laughing here?" I almost smirked.

He pinned my arms above my head, and I wriggled in protest. "Someone's feisty this morning."

I gave him my best "who, me?" look.

He smiled. "Babe."

I closed my eyes and waited for Ranger to do something about my feistiness, but the next thing I knew, he was gone. Apparently he'd somehow ninja'd himself into the bathroom. I went and tried the door, but it was locked.

"Hey," I called.

No answer.

"Umm…the door seems to be stuck." Sometimes it's helpful to go with the naïve approach.

The shower turned on. "You sure?"

Well, now he had me second guessing myself. I jiggled the handle again. "Yeah, pretty sure. Maybe you should come over and check it out. You might want some help in there."

"No worries. I'm good." Of course he was…

My eyes narrowed. "What about taking care of my feisty problem?"

More silence, then, "I think I've got it covered."

"That's just mean," I muttered.

Then I thought I heard him laugh. "If you want in here bad enough, babe, I'm sure you'll find a way."

I kicked the door. "You're _not_ funny. And I'm _not_ going to miss you at all while you're gone," I pouted.

"You sure about that?" Through the hiss of the streaming water, I swear I heard a groan. What a jerk! I rattled the door handle.

Then I kicked the door again for good measure. To make sure I got my point across. Then I pouted some more. Mostly because I wasn't in that shower right now. And because I really was going to miss that guy. Every last not-soft bit of him.

###

Thankfully Ranger's not completely heartless. He unlocked the door right about the time I was nearing my combusting point. Then he gave me a few really good reasons why I _should_ miss him while he's gone. Just to keep them fresh in my mind. That guy's all about the poignant demonstrations.

He was even nice enough to drop me and Lula off at the airport before resuming his top secret mission of mystery. But not nice enough to hold back the smirk when Lula brought out the souvenir she'd found for me during one of her Seattle shopping sprees. It was a t-shirt with a cartoon pig eating a bag of donuts that said "this little piggy went to market."

I gave a dizzying eye roll, muttered a sarcastic "thanks," and tried not to dwell too much on the accuracy of the cartoon. Especially considering I'd had some recent difficulty buttoning my pants. Too much good food and not enough exercise. Something I was definitely going to remedy once back at Rangeman.

The flight home was uneventful. Especially compared to all my recent activities. Lula filled me in on the details from her last two days in Seattle, and I gave her a modified version of mine. You know, excluding the whole trip to prison and my involvement in the police investigation at the hotel.

Lula assumed that Ranger had flown in to help with whoever I was tracking in Seattle, so I decided to let her think that. I didn't need the whole husband-tracking-disaster-weekend-from-hell getting broadcasted around the Burg Gossip Mill. There were already enough weird rumors as it was. No point adding fuel to _that_ fire.

Tank was waiting for us at the airport when we landed. No big surprise there. He'd probably had it all set up with Ranger a week ago.

He helped us grab our bags, and I fought back a smile when I thought I heard him grunt as he hoisted Lula's bulging suitcase off the luggage carousel. Based on its size, she'd probably doubled her wardrobe during her stay in Seattle.

Lester was waiting for us in a nondescript black SUV in the parking garage. I gave him a little finger wave as we loaded our gear in the back.

"Everything ok while we were gone?" I asked.

"You mean other than you trying to dupe us with the whole weekend-at-my-sister's routine?"

My cheeks warmed slightly in embarrassment. "Yeah, other than that."

He shrugged. "It's been alright. You missed Cal trying to down three habaneros the other night. He lost a bet with Hector."

Men. I rolled my eyes. "Sounds like things were _real_ exciting."

Lester quirked an eyebrow. "You got something that can top it?"

"Nope."

"Except she got to dress up as a sexy Wonder Woman," Lula interjected.

I shot her a look. Seriously, who needs enemies when you've got friends like that?


	35. Chapter 35

The next morning I crawled out of bed feeling a little lonely, so I decided to distract myself by creating a mental game plan for the day. I probably had a stack of paperwork to sort through on my desk downstairs, and I also wanted to find one of the Rangeguys to be my fitness slave driver for a while until my pants started fitting again. As it was, I had resorted to wearing my "fluffy" jeans along with a non-formfitting Rangeman tee. I hoped black really was a slimming color too because I had a feeling I could probably use all the help I could get.

I grabbed some fruit and toast from the breakfast tray Ella left on the kitchen counter before making my way downstairs. Tank was waiting for me by the elevator.

"A word," he said, motioning for me to follow him.

We stepped inside a conference room, and he shut the door.

"What's up, big guy?" I asked nonchalantly.

His eyes narrowed as he took an intimidating step closer to me. I felt my stomach drop. "You ever pull a stunt like you did this last weekend, and you and I will be having a very different kind of meeting."

I raised my eyebrows in shock. "Sorry?"

Tank looked straight at me, his expression a little scary and definitely serious. "You are a valued member of this team, not to mention my best friend's wife. If you ever lie to me about where you're going or try and throw me off your trail again, I'll take you to the mats myself. Are we clear?"

I swallowed hard and nodded. Getting reprimanded by King Kong can be a very sobering experience.

Tank opened the door and held it for me. Guess that conversation was over. I turned back to him. "Didn't Ranger fill you in on everything before he left?"

Tank gave a slight shake of his head. "Decided to keep it between him and Hector this time. You can imagine my worry when he called to ask for the activity reports on your trackers."

I almost smiled. "You were worried about me?"

"Is that a surprise?"

Maybe. I shrugged.

"Let's just say Ranger's not the only one whose life would be flipped upside down if something bad happened to you."

Aw, warm fuzzies! I resisted the overwhelming urge to give Tank a hug and decided to go with the "aye-aye captain" solute instead. It earned me an almost-smile.

As I made my way back to my computer, I couldn't quite put a finger on which of my warring emotions was currently winning. On the one hand, Tank made me nearly wet myself when he'd narrowed his eyes at me a moment ago. But on the other hand, his threat had come from a really good place. The big, tough scary guy was genuinely concerned about my wellbeing. The admission made me feel so good that I almost wanted to cry.

Of course, whatever good feelings I had all disappeared once I made it back to my desk.

Because a tall, leggy blonde with perfectly shaped breasts was there waiting for me.

"Amber," I stated dryly.

She gave a fake smile in return. "Courtney, was it?"

" _Mrs. Manoso_ is fine."

The fake smile morphed into a casual shrug. "Of course. Is Carlos around? He was supposed to meet me for lunch today to go over some financial assessments."

My eyes narrowed involuntarily. " _I'd_ be happy to go over those financial assessments with you. Especially since _Mr. Manoso_ is a little preoccupied at the moment." Not to mention out of the state.

"Gee, wish I could, but this stuff is strictly confidential."

"He's my _husband_ ," I reiterated. "I've been granted the highest level of clearance around here." It was sort of a lie because I have no idea what my clearance level is. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind." And maybe that was a lie too.

She gave me a sympathetic look like I was some silly, naïve child. "I'm sorry, but I'd still need that in writing from Carlos. Client confidentiality and all."

I wanted to smack that infuriating look right off her perfectly made-up face. And I was going to do it too if this little rendezvous didn't wrap up here in like the next five seconds. I mean seriously, a person can only be expected to have so much self-control.

"I'll let him know you stopped by," I said through practically clenched teeth.

The stupid, fake smile returned. "Okay. And be sure to tell him he's looking good too."

I shot her a raging death glare.

"The company, that is," she added with a knowing grin, ignoring the signs of her impending doom glowing dangerously behind my eyes.

"Thanks for your help, Sydney. I'll be in touch." She turned on her heel and strutted toward the elevator like it was Vogue's premier runway.

I didn't do or say anything. I was afraid if my body moved even a fraction of an inch, it was going to unleash Plum Fury all over her perfectly-sculpted ass.

Eventually all the red I was seeing turned to more of a pink haze, and my rage monster was replaced with a very strong need for sugar. I walked over to my desk and dug around in my bottom drawer until I found my emergency snickers bar hidden strategically inside an empty box of tampons.

Just as I was about to unwrap it, I glanced down and noticed a certain protruding tummy roll under my shirt. Damn. I grumbled a string of expletives along with several reasons why life was horrendously unfair before shoving the snickers back in its drawer and heading off to find the lucky guy with a resolve strong enough to go head to head with my get-out-of-everything attitude and whip its sorry butt into shape.


	36. Chapter 36

"Can…we… _please_ …slow…down," I panted heavily.

My black-clad boot camp sergeant from hell was already ten paces ahead of me, his effortless stride gradually increasing the gap between us with each passing second. He glanced back and grinned. "No pain, no gain, Beautiful."

Whoever came up with that stupid mantra deserved to have their kneecaps shot off.

I paused before doubling over at the waist. Things felt swirly and I was already dripping sweat from every part of my body. I'm not even kidding. Apparently ear sweat is a real thing.

Lester Santos doubled back and jogged in place next to me. He looked like he could do this for days. "We still have another mile to go."

I whimpered. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Wish I could help, but I seem to recall someone telling me that under _no_ circumstances was I to let her weasel her way out of exercising. And I take my promises _very_ seriously." He waggled his eyebrows.

Part of me wanted to laugh, but another part of me wanted to punch him in his smug face. We were on day three of my newly developed plan to lose some weight, and I was hating every moment of it. Which of course was nothing new. Exercise and I had never really been on the best of terms. It always left me panting and sweaty and sore, and the only place I ever wanted to feel like that was in the bedroom.

"C'mon Beautiful, last mile. Grab your second wind and let's get moving. I've got a hot date tonight that I don't want to be late for."

I slowly righted myself and frowned. "What happened to taking me out to that new Thai place?"

He gave me one of those "seriously?" looks before I finally got the joke. _I_ was the hot date. Cute.

"Pretty sure she called and said she was running late," I said on a sigh. "I think I'm gonna walk back."

Les rolled his eyes and grabbed my arm. "No you're not. If it helps, just pretend I've got a big box of donuts that you can have once we make it back."

I rolled my eyes. "Ha. Ha."

Truth be told, that little donut trick was the only thing that helped me make it back to Rangeman in one piece.

###

"You hear anything from Ranger yet?" Les asked while we were waiting for our food.

I frowned and shook my head. "Think I should be worried?"

"Are you kidding? We're talking Ranger here. The guy's a freaking ninja. I'm sure he's fine."

I gave a small smile.

It was nice when the Rangeguys took me out to keep me busy while Ranger was gone. Of course, it didn't really make the separation any easier, but it did make me acutely aware of the family I'd inadvertently become a part of. It was like living with a quirky set of overly protective brothers. If I even mentioned being down or lonely, I suddenly had a handful of invitations for lunches, dinners, margarita nights, and even the occasional shopping spree. If that didn't say love, I'm not sure what did.

Our food arrived and I tried not to look as disappointed as I felt about the vegetable to meat ratio currently occupying my plate. It was another part of my new fitness plan. More veggies, fewer fried and/or sweet things.

I took a bite. The dish wasn't bad. The whole spicy, peanut sauce thing kept it interesting. But it wasn't very exciting. Green just wasn't my color when it came to food.

Brown was. Brown meant gooey, chocolaty desserts and gravy. It meant warm, crusty bread from the oven and crispy, golden things hot from the fryer. It meant caramel and hot fudge, and most importantly it meant Ranger. Granted, he didn't fit on the food pyramid in the traditional sense, but he'd sure found a place on mine. And right now he was the only approved dessert on my fitness plan. Which was a total bummer because he was also currently MIA. Jerk.

Les watched me move some food around on my plate. The gloppy sauce and veggies were starting to make my stomach churn. And not in a good way.

"Think they'll let me get this to go?" I asked as I pushed my plate to a vacant spot on the table.

"You should really eat _something_ , Steph," Les frowned. "Especially after your workout today. Want to try some of mine?"

I speared a piece of his chicken and popped it in my mouth. "No offense, but I think I'll just grab one of Ella's sandwiches back at Rangeman." I shrugged. "Guess I'm just not that keen on Thai food."

He continued eating. "Would Pino's have been better?"

"Maybe. But I probably would've gorged myself on fries, and my pants still seem to think I should lay off for a while."

Lester laughed.

"It's not funny. In fact, I'm thinking about demanding a refund on my training sessions with you. You've been making me sweat enough for four people, and I have absolutely nothing to show for it."

He shrugged. "You know, results don't just happen overnight. You've been at it, what? Three days now?"

"Yeah," I sighed.

"Give it at least a week, Beautiful, and those pants will be right back to hugging you in all the right places." He gave me a flirty wink.

I smiled. "Thanks, Les."

"Yeah, yeah. Just make sure you remember this conversation tomorrow when you think about threatening to kill me during our workout."

I feigned a look of shock. "I would _never_ do such a thing."

"Uh huh. I heard what you muttered under your breath this afternoon." He paused before raising his eyebrows with a haughty smirk. "Too bad you'd actually have to catch me in order to use my own gun on me."

"Well, maybe tomorrow I will."

Les laughed. "Tell you what, Beautiful. You catch me tomorrow, and I'll buy you a donut. Maybe even two."

I grabbed the check for our meal. "You're on."


	37. Chapter 37

Surprise, surprise. I didn't catch Lester during our ninety mile run. I really should have known better too. I mean, the guy _is_ related to Ranger. And the only way I'd ever catch Ranger is if he was missing a leg…and maybe a lung too. Even then, it might be close.

On a positive note, I got something even better than a donut after my workout. And a whole lot healthier.

I was busy in the bathroom showering off all the sticky sweat from my run when the air pressure suddenly changed, and my breath caught in my chest.

Normally realizing you're not alone in the bathroom can be a major cause for concern. Especially if you have a bizarre history of psychopathic intruders like me. But I only know of one person capable of moving like smoke and filling a room with the smell of Bulgari even before the bottle has been opened.

The tell-tale tingles tickled the back of my neck, and I resisted the urge to turn around. After all, Ranger shower surprises are some of my favorites.

Several silent moments passed, and I assumed my "mystery" guest was enjoying his view. Too bad I was feeling impatient. So I purposely dropped my razor on the floor and bent down to get it.

"Babe," came a very low and husky growl.

I spun around and put my hand to my heart. "I do declare," I drawled, "you done startled me somethin' fierce."

Ranger just stood there a moment, using some pretty intense willpower to hold back a laugh. I was amusing him.

"Good grief." I gave an exasperated sigh. "Why aren't you naked already? I thought that whole dropped-razor routine was a pretty obvious invitation."

Then I noticed the barely-visible black sling holding his left arm in place.

"Oh my gosh! What happened?"

"It's nothing."

"No, nothing is nothing. As in _no_ bandages, _no_ slings, _no_ casts. This," I said pointing to his arm, "is something. This is…"

I didn't get a chance to finish my thought. Because the next thing I knew, a fully clothed Ranger had joined me in the shower, his lips immediately fusing with mine, strategically sucking every last coherent thought from my brain.

I pushed against his chest in half-hearted protest, but the kiss deepened and my fingers curled into his shirt, pulling him closer instead.

"Does this mean I get to be on top?" I asked, tracing a gentle finger along the now-drenched sling.

Ranger was too busy tangling his fingers in my hair and licking stray water droplets from my skin to answer.

"I'll just take that as a yes."

His lips turned up in a subtle smile. "Babe."

###

"Did I hurt you?" I asked, delicately dragging my fingers down Ranger's injured arm.

He was reclined against the pillows, his eyes closed.

"I feel too good right now to care." His mouth tipped into a small smile. "Maybe you should take top more often."

Then his hand slid beneath the covers and caressed my backside. He opened his eyes and grinned. "Have you been working out, babe?"

Finally! A bit of recognition for all the torturous hours of exercise I'd been putting in lately.

"Maybe a little," I replied.

"Sexy."

I blew out a sigh. "My pants haven't been fitting all that well since Seattle. Too much stress eating, I think." And maybe too many of those delicious mini donuts. Good thing _that_ donut shop was on the opposite side of the country. Otherwise my diet plans would be completely doomed.

Ranger leaned down and kissed the top of my head. "Proud of you, babe."

"Don't be too proud yet. My pants still aren't fitting." I crinkled my nose in disgust.

"You just got back. Give it some time."

Gee, where had I heard that before? Oh yeah, from another male who could probably diet for an hour and magically lose five pounds. Not that these men ever needed to diet either. You know, since their muscles had muscles.

Stupid metabolism. My mother always warned me this day would come. And here I'd always thought it to be some silly, idle threat.

I sure hoped Amber struggled with _her_ metabolism. That she had to wear Spanx to get that perfectly formed hourglass figure she always sported. Maybe she had a sixth toe on her foot or something else creepy too. Or irritable bowel syndrome. Or maybe she was lactose intolerant. I'll bet if she eats just one slice of cheese, she can clear a room faster than a teenage boy.

I smirked at the thought.

Ranger quirked an eyebrow. "What's so funny?"

"Just postulating on some random theories."

He gave me a look. "Did you buy another word-a-day calendar while I was gone?"

"Maybe." Hey, it's not a crime to want to sound intelligent.

Okay, I hadn't _really_ bought a word-a-day calendar. "Postulating" was from an article I'd read in the Time magazine someone had conveniently left behind on the airplane from Seattle to Newark. I'd been waiting several days to use it.

"Want to know today's word?" I asked seductively. Didn't mean I couldn't still have some fun here.

"Do I?"

I leaned down and whispered a word in his ear.

He thought about smiling. "You expect me to believe 'arousal' is in a word-a-day calendar?"

I shrugged my shoulders and gave a coy grin. "It could be."

"Maybe. It _is_ a pretty good word." He pulled me into his arms and kissed me, soft at first then gradually building with some pretty intense passion. My toes tingled when we broke apart. And maybe some other fun places too. "Want to know a better one?"

I gave a nod as I felt his hand start travelling south.

His lips nipped at that favorite spot on my neck before brushing the shell of my ear. I gasped when he spoke.

"Wait," I said half-dazed. "Is that even in English?"

"No."

"Spanish?"

"Si."

I rolled my eyes. "But I don't speak Spanish."

He grinned. "Context clues, babe."


	38. Chapter 38

"So, you're going to tell me what happened with Fox, right?" I asked.

Ranger and I had finally made it out to the kitchen and were in the midst of devouring a meal Ella had dropped by earlier. Something with pasta, sausage, and a sauce savory enough to have been made by a true Italian. Her abilities in the kitchen were positively genius.

"The abbreviated version goes something like we got the bad guys, I didn't stick my landing, and there was a problem with payment."

I rolled my eyes. "What if I want the _un_ abbreviated version?"

Ranger made a face like maybe he missed the old days when he kept his own council.

"At least fill me in on the whole injury piece," I pressed. "What exactly did you mean by 'you didn't stick your landing'?"

He shrugged. "I misjudged the distance between two buildings."

"And?"

"I caught a gutter at a funny angle and tore some ligaments in my shoulder. Bobby thinks I should be back to normal in a week or two."

He said it as if Bobby's assessment somehow made the whole situation ok. I raised an eyebrow. "Why exactly were you playing Spiderman in the first place?"

"Because the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and I needed to get ahead of my target."

"Of course," I sighed. So goes the life of Batman, I guess.

Ranger got up and put his dishes in the sink before coming and kissing the top of my head. "It's nice to have someone to worry about me."

I snorted a laugh. "But you really mean it's annoying."

"Only in the best ways." He tucked a curl behind my ear and smiled. It wasn't one of his panty-decimating smiles. It was soft. Warm. Timeless. Like maybe he'd still be smiling at me like that when we were old and gray.

"I'm offline for the rest of the night," he added. "I think I'm going to go lay down for a while."

It didn't really sound like an invitation, but I honestly couldn't remember the last time Ranger had gone to bed this early without other bedroom activities involved.

"Are you feeling ok?"

He offered a reassuring nod. "Just a headache."

Not really wanting to be alone, I followed him into the bedroom. "Want company?"

For a moment I thought he'd give his signature "babe" response implying he wasn't interested in _that_ kind of company. But instead he motioned for me to come and join him on the bed.

"This is home," he mused quietly as he settled into the pillows.

I snuggled in beside him. "Our bed?"

"You."

His words lingered in the silence as I listened to his heartrate slow and his breathing deepen. I closed my eyes and tried to memorize the details surrounding us. The smells, the sounds. The sensation of his chest rhythmically rising and falling beneath me. The way each minute felt as if it had been stretched out across eternity.

Even if time robbed me of all my other memories someday, I wanted this moment locked away somewhere safe. Because it was the moment I knew with absolute certainty that life didn't get any better than this.

###

The alarm chirped on the bedside table, but I was already awake. Something had jarred me from my sleep. I didn't know what else to do, so I'd gotten up and made some coffee. Or rather I'd added some sugar and cream to the coffee already brewed by our convenient coffee fairy named Ella. Then I'd gone back to the bedroom to contemplate some of life's great mysteries while my husband continued sleeping beside me.

Ranger rolled over and grimaced. It was probably the only time he'd give any indication that his shoulder was bothering him. The rest of the day he'd rub some dirt on it in true "tough guy" fashion and mask any signs of pain with his classic blank stare. Although I'd probably consider slipping him some pain killers if he started snapping at the new hires. After all, nobody wants a tense work environment.

"Did you sleep ok?" I asked.

He sat up and rubbed his forehead. "Maybe I need another day offline."

"I think that can be arranged." I gave him a flirty grin.

"Except my wife seems to enjoy spending money faster than I can make it. I can't afford any downtime." He got out of bed and headed over to the closet. I watched as he glanced down around his feet. "Your fancy shoes take up half our walk-in."

I poked my head in. "Hey, most of these shoes weren't even my idea," I said in protest. My foot nudged a pair of black stilettos. "You came home with _that_ pair because you said I needed something to go with the fancy underwear you bought me."

His teeth flashed in a classic big, bad wolf smile. "That's right. Now I remember." He gave me a very slow body scan. "You should wear those heels more often, babe."

I rolled my eyes. "You know, if you're not careful, you're going to be late for work."

"Then I better make up some time in the shower." He headed toward the bathroom. "You coming?"

"I thought you wanted to make up some time."

"I can be pretty efficient when I need to be."

Yeah. He could. "Ok," I sighed in resignation.

"Oh, and bring the heels."

"Those are $700 Jimmy Choo's! I highly doubt they're waterproof."

"Babe."

Something told me from the sultry, seductive look in his eyes, Ranger considered the ruined shoes an acceptable loss.


	39. Chapter 39

At some point that afternoon, Ranger and I met up for a late lunch. I handed him a small bottle of ibuprofen while he was eating his sandwich, and he gave me a look like he had no idea why.

"I saw that new hire, AJ, leaving your office this morning," I said. "He looked as white as a ghost on Halloween. Rumor has it you told him if he kept missing the bullseye during target practice, you'd let Tank use _him_ as a target."

Ranger shrugged. "The kid needs to hone his skills. I thought I'd give him some extra motivation."

"And _you_ needed some pain killers."

He twitched a small smile. "You don't have to look so smug about it, you know."

I flashed him my best cutesy smile. "It's more fun this way."

We finished our lunch, and Ranger grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. "What's on your agenda this afternoon?" he asked.

"Another round of torture with Les. You?"

"More paperwork, catching up with clients. And I have a financial meeting to crunch some numbers with Amber this evening."

I made a face. "Couldn't you do a phone conference instead?"

He wisely avoided the smile I knew was lurking somewhere close by. "I _could_ , but she's bringing by some pretty detailed paperwork. It'll go faster if I can see it so she doesn't have to explain everything."

It was a valid point, but it didn't make it any more palatable.

"I don't like her," I stated bluntly. "She's…well, she seems shifty." Not to mention annoyingly perfect. "It's obvious she's up to something too."

"Like what?"

Like seducing _you_ , you idiot! "Like ruining Rangeman."

Ranger considered the accusation. "Do you have any evidence to support your theory?"

"No," I muttered. Damn. Why didn't I have any evidence?

Maybe that's what I needed to focus on. I needed to find a clever way to get rid of her. Preferably with as much humiliation as humanly possible. But I wasn't above finding someone better suited for the job either. Any whiz with numbers would do. At least any _male_ whiz with numbers. Maybe I'd put an ad in the paper.

"Do you want me to fire her?" Ranger asked suddenly.

Hell yes, I did! I eyed him suspiciously. "What if I said yes?"

"I'd do it out of respect for you."

Crap. "Really?"

"Yes."

I considered the possibility. It seemed like a monumental victory. For me anyway. But it was hard to deny that it would be a loss for Rangeman. Especially considering the huge financial gains the company had been making over the last several months. And that made me feel guilty. Like _really_ guilty. Because I was being petty. And jealous. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place.

"You're sure she's doing good things for the company?" I asked skeptically.

"Our investments have grown considerably since she's been on board."

Damn.

"It'd probably be difficult to fire someone for doing a good job," I added.

"Just slightly."

I blew out a sigh. "Fine. She can stay." Ugh! I couldn't believe I'd just said that!

Ranger kissed the top of my head. "Proud of you, babe."

"You'll probably want to hold that thought because if her lips touch _any_ part of your body for _any_ reason, including CPR, you'll probably need a crowbar to pry my hands off her neck."

Ranger laughed. "Noted."

"It's _not_ funny," I huffed, "I'm dead serious."

"I know. It's cute."

"It is _not_ cute," I grumbled.

Ranger gave a subtle shake of his head before glancing at his watch. "I should probably head back downstairs."

"Wait," I said, catching his arm. "Before you go, I forgot to ask you about that third thing on your abbreviated list from your time in Seattle."

Ranger looked like he wanted to sigh. "The payment situation."

"Yeah, that."

He pulled a playing card out of his pocket and set it on the table. "Your new friend seems to have followed a trail of breadcrumbs. She left this in the safe where Nick stored the case."

I looked at the card. It was from one of those decks with the court jester featured on the joker card. The face and body had been altered with a pen to appear more feminine. Like Harley Quinn.

"So, no case then."

Ranger shook his head. "No case."

"Then it's over. We're done with that whole mess."

"Not according to Fox. He seems to think she'll come to us."

Really? "Why would she do that?"

"Babe."

Right, the key. Duh.

My stomach did a flip-flop. "But I thought the only people who knew about that key were either dead or in this room."

"Apparently not."

The thought sent a chill down my spine. "Should we be worried?"

"I'm always worried when you're involved."

I rolled my eyes. "Ha. Ha."

Except in the back of my mind, considering my history, I knew he had good reason to worry.


	40. Chapter 40

I sat at my desk drumming my fingers, wishing I was upstairs in my favorite thinking spot, sprawled out on our massive bed. There were like a hundred different things rolling around in my brain, and none of them made a bit of sense. Ranger was still acting weird, my pants weren't fitting, Barney's mystery case had been stolen by Nick Fox, Harley Quinn had stolen said case from Nick and was now hunting the key, and Amber-the-accounting-slut was driving me nuts.

And then there was the unmistakable feeling that I somehow knew this Harley Quinn chick. My mind was so wrapped up in solving _that_ mystery that I kept dreaming about it. Like every night. I'd wake up and remember something about the eyes. A color, a look. Something. And then there was this other part of her that I recognized too. But I could never put a finger on what it was.

Part of me wondered if she was my arch nemesis, Joyce Barnhardt. Joyce had been making my life a living hell since grade school, so it wasn't much of a stretch to think she'd want to make my life hell now. Unfortunately, I had absolutely _no_ reason to believe she was in any way involved in the whole Ben/Barney case situation. Because in all honesty, I hadn't even seen her recently. And besides, why would she follow me to Seattle? It didn't make any sense.

There was also the slim possibility that Harley Quinn was a former skip from my bond enforcement days. But the list of possibilities was so long that I'd have to do some serious research to even narrow down a potential suspect list. Eventually I decided it couldn't hurt to swing by my cousin Vinnie's bail bonds office later. Maybe Connie and Lula could help brainstorm some likely candidates.

Les dropped by my desk while I was still off in LaLa Land. He was already dressed in his typical exercise uniform of a black t-shirt and track pants.

"You do realize you're supposed to be dressed and ready to go in like five minutes, right?"

I rubbed my temples. "I may need a pass today."

He crossed his arms. "Nope. No passes. You made me promise."

"But I've got a lot going on right now," I whined.

"We all do, Beautiful. It's called work."

I rolled my eyes. "Funny."

He shrugged. "Hey, you were the one who came up with the plan. I just agreed to it."

"Yeah, but…"

"No buts. Get moving. I'll meet you downstairs in ten."

Jeez. These Rangeman Nazis could be a real pain in the ass sometimes. I shut down my computer and made my way up to seven to change.

Twenty minutes later, Lester was giving me the stink eye from the bench press in the gym.

"You're late."

"And you're grumpy. Some girl turn you down for a date or something?"

He gave me a wicked grin. "For that snotty remark, I'm gonna make you sprint the last quarter mile of our run today."

Dammit!

"I take it back," I blurted in a panic.

"Too late, Beautiful. Now get your ass on that quad machine before I tack on an extra mile."

I grumbled a few choice words before following orders. After all, I didn't want to find out if Lester would make good on his threat.

###

An hour and a half later, I was grumpy, tired, sweaty, and winded. I collapsed on the ground waiting for the elevator in the garage.

"Lester Santos," I panted, "remind me to tear your arms and legs off later and beat you to death with them."

"That's just your side ache talking," he grinned. He reached down and pulled me back to my feet. "You looked really good out there today, Steph. I'm…"

"If you even _think_ about saying 'proud of you,'" I interrupted, "I'm going to hurl all over your expensive training shoes."

He tugged at one of my sweaty curls. "They're company issued. You'd be footing the bill."

"Of course they are."

Les laughed. "We can still be friends after this, right?"

"Asks the man who made me sprint up a hill. _And_ who stole my precious candy bar right out of my hand this morning."

"Hey, I gave you an apple to replace it."

I glared at him. " _So_ not the same."

We stepped into the elevator, and Les selected the fifth floor. He glanced over at me and grinned. "You ever tell Ranger I said _any_ of this, and I'll be looking at a minimum of eight months in Siberia, but you are totally rocking the healthy vibe, Beautiful. You look stronger and more energetic every day."

"That's funny because I _feel_ exhausted."

"Well, you _look_ great. All that nutritious eating's been good for you. Your eyes are bright and your skin's all smooth and rosy." He rocked back on his heels and shrugged. "Basically, you're hot."

I smiled. "Hotter than say, a Barbie lookalike?"

Les shrugged. "Depends on the Barbie."

"Hey!"

He laughed. "Don't like the new Ms. Holdt, huh?"

"Would _you_?"

He grinned. "Gonna have to plead the fifth on that one."

I rolled my eyes. "Men."

Les got off at five, and I continued the elevator ride up to seven.

The apartment was dark and quiet when I walked through the door. Apparently Ranger was still working. Probably with Amber. I grit my teeth and tried to ignore all the crazy thoughts of her using her clever methods of seduction on my husband. I knew I was being dumb. Ranger was infinitely smarter than that. But it didn't erase all the images flooding my mind of their bodies entwined in passion.

I needed a distraction. Like food. Yeah, food was good.

And dinner was already in the fridge thanks to Ella. I smiled. Ranger must have put in a special request on my behalf because meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and gravy had somehow made the dinner menu tonight. A rarity in this household.

I grabbed a plate and heaped it full to nearly overflowing before zapping it in the microwave. While it hummed in the background, I grabbed a glass of water and took a seat at the table. The Harley Quinn playing card was still sitting there from this morning.

I played with it absentmindedly while I waited for my food. Then my eye caught something I hadn't noticed before. The familiar Greek-like script for Caesar's casino. Except it didn't say Caesar's Las Vegas like I was expecting. It said Caesar's Atlantic City.

As in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The microwave dinged somewhere off in the distance, but my attention had momentarily shifted away from food.

"Curiouser and curiouser," I mused. Maybe the Joyce Barnhardt theory wasn't all that farfetched after all.

I grabbed my phone and called Lula. It was definitely time for a trip to Vinnie's.


	41. Chapter 41

Another morning dawned, and I felt that tingly sensation of a mystery starting to unfold as I sat up in bed. Ranger was already in the shower, so I padded out to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. I checked my shoulder bag for all the essentials and tucked the Harley Quinn playing card into my wallet for safekeeping.

I'd just started in on a slice of tasteless, grainy toast when Ranger suddenly materialized behind me. And boy did he smell good!

"Mmm," I sighed. "Do you think they make Bulgari air fresheners?"

"Want me to find out?"

"No," I frowned. "It wouldn't be the same." I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his neck before inhaling deeply. "Pretty sure it's the intoxicating mixture of Bulgari _and_ you. Doubt they could replicate something like that."

"Probably not."

I glanced up. His hair was still damp from his shower, his skin warm and completely edible. But there was something off in his eyes. They looked unusually tired. And a little pained.

"Did your shoulder keep you up last night?" I asked trying to hide the growing concern in my voice.

"Maybe a little. Guess I'm not twenty anymore." He gave me a gentle, reassuring kiss.

"But you'd tell me if something was wrong, right?"

He kissed my nose. The optimistic part of me wanted to accept the kiss as a yes, but the suspicious part of me didn't like that he hadn't given a definitive answer. Like maybe he didn't want to lie, but he didn't want to tell the truth either.

Ranger eyed my shoulder bag on the counter. "What do you have planned for today, babe?" he asked, effectively changing the subject.

"A day out with Lula."

"Spa day or work-related?"

"Just a little research on some skips." Apparently two could play at the whole "half-truth" game.

Then I had this sudden realization. Why the hell was I playing games in the first place? Shouldn't Ranger be in on the fact that our Harley Quinn mystery person might be a local? Keeping this information to myself wasn't going to help anything.

I walked over to my bag and pulled out my wallet. I handed the jester card to Ranger.

"This card came out of a deck from Caesar's casino in Atlantic City."

Ranger inspected the card. "Interesting."

"Very."

He gave me a knowing look. "You were going to use Connie's systems to try and find a match for our Harley Quinn?"

"Sort of."

He raised an eyebrow waiting for me to continue. Or maybe it was the unspoken question of why I wasn't using the better systems at Rangeman.

"I think I know who it is. But not really."

"Babe."

I made a face. "Sorry, that sounded stupid. I recognized her in the alley back in Seattle. But I'm not sure from where. I think the whole face makeup and costume thing threw me off."

"You're thinking it's one of your former skips?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

Ranger glanced at the card again before returning his focus to me. "I'd say you should go with your gut on this one. It's usually pretty accurate."

Despite receiving the compliment a number of times in the past, I blushed. "Really?"

"Yes." He wrapped his arms around my waist. "But do me a favor and bring a few tagalongs with you."

I crinkled my nose. "As in the black-clad, sharpshooter types?"

"Yes."

"Does that mean we're at threat level red now?"

Ranger frowned. "It means I've got a bad feeling, and you've got that bloodhound look in your eyes, which is usually about the time all hell breaks loose around here."

"Good point."

He raised an eyebrow. "So that's a yes to the tagalongs?"

I thought for a moment. "Can they wear jeans?"

"Mmm…no."

"Grab a beer at Shorty's?"

"Not on the clock."

I blew out a sigh. "Can they do _anything_ normal?"

Ranger thought for a moment. "Breathing's pretty normal, right?"

Ladies and gentlemen, the man with the jokes.

"Well, it _would_ be if you all didn't breathe like a bunch of freaking ninjas."

"Babe."

I sighed again before putting my coffee mug in the sink. "Yes to the tagalongs, and no I won't try to lose them halfway through the day. Happy?"

Ranger flashed his 200 megawatt smile. "Immensely."


	42. Chapter 42

Connie Rosolli, Jersey's very own Betty Boop, was sitting at her desk, looking bored and filing her nails when I dropped by the bonds office with a bag of donuts from the Tasty Pastry. She glanced up when she heard the chime on the door.

"Holy crap!" she smiled. "Would ya look at what the cat dragged in? To what do I owe the pleasure, _Mrs_. Manoso?"

I smiled and glanced around. "Is Lula in yet?"

Connie shrugged. "Nah. She comes rolling in when she feels like it. But it's usually not before 9:00."

Sounded about right.

I tossed Connie the bag of donuts. "How're things going here?" I asked. "How's Vinnie?"

She dug around in the bag until she found what she was looking for. A chocolate glazed with sprinkles. "It's going. I keep hearing rumors that Harry the Hammer wants out of the bond business, but until I show up for work and the door's locked, I figure I'll stick around. It's home, ya know?"

I nodded.

The bonds office _did_ feel like home. In an I'm-back-from-college-for-a-visit kind of way. It still smelled like lemon-scented cleaner and nail polish, thanks to Connie, and the worn couch was still leaned up against the wall next to the two-year-old magazines on the circular end table. Files still rested on the edge of Connie's desk, and I fought the all-too familiar urge to sneak a peek at who had skipped bail recently.

"How's married life?" Connie asked as she sucked the residual frosting from her fingers.

"It's great."

"Yeah," she smirked, "I'll bet. I knew you two would be good together."

I raised my eyebrows. "Yeah?"

"You kidding? There was so much chemistry between you two, I thought I was watching one of those stupid science lab films from high school."

I rolled my eyes. Then I heard a familiar screech of tires out front. Next thing I knew, Lula came barreling through the door. That woman sure knew how to make an entrance.

"Hey!" she exclaimed when she saw me. "The prodigal daughter's come back for a visit. What's shakin', white girl?"

"Not much. You?"

"My hunky super boy from Seattle said he's gonna fly out for a visit soon. Guess he wants to catch that new Marvel movie with me."

Connie and I both offered approving smiles. "That's great."

It was one of those things I was probably going to have to see before I believed it, but I was glad Lula had had some fun in Seattle. She'd filled me in on her date with The Human Torch (aka: Daryl something or other) on the flight back to Newark. From what she'd said, he seemed like a pretty decent guy. And Lula was long overdue for someone decent.

"I see you brought along the muscle brigade today," Lula added, pointing out the window.

The black Rangeman SUV was parked across the street.

I shrugged. "Safety precaution."

"Batman turning into the overprotective husband already?"

"It might be a pretty legitimate concern actually. Which is kind of why I dropped by in the first place." I fished through my shoulder bag until I found the Harley Quinn playing card. "Can either of you think of a former skip that kind of resembles the Harley Quinn court jester girl from Batman?"

Connie thought for a moment. "Are we talking the whole nutty personality thing or more physical appearance?"

"Probably more appearance, but who knows? I'm mostly grasping at straws here. Although…" I trailed off.

"Although what?" Lula asked already zeroing in on the bag of donuts.

"Do either of you think Joyce would still want to mess with me?"

Connie snickered. "There's no doubt in my mind that Joyce Barnhardt will always have some weird vendetta against you, Steph. That woman's bat-shit crazy." She paused. "But I kinda doubt she's the Harley Quinn you're looking for."

"Why's that?" I asked.

Connie snorted back a laugh. "'Cuz Joyce doesn't really look much like Joyce these days."

"What? Why?"

"Word on the street is that she had some sort of problem with her thyroid." Connie pulled up a picture from a social media site. "See for yourself."

I glanced at the computer screen and frowned. "You're sure that's Joyce?"

It looked like one of those terrible tabloid pictures taken from a really unflattering angle. If the photographic evidence was true, she must have put on a good sixty to seventy pounds. She was sporting a large double-chin, neck rolls, and two round, pudgy arms. And that was just the parts the camera captured. She looked so bad, I almost felt sorry for her.

Almost.

"Well, there goes _that_ theory," I laughed. "Harley Quinn definitely wasn't a size 20."

Lula grabbed a second donut. "Why you lookin' for this Harley Quinn chick anyway? She trying to ruin the life of Batman or something?"

"No. She's got something I want. And apparently I've got something she wants."

Connie raised a curious eyebrow. "Sounds ominous. Care to be more specific?"

I shook my head. "Not really. At least not right now. Just thought I'd see if either of you had any ideas. My brainstorming has been on the fritz lately." I blew out a sigh.

"You got some drama goin' on, Steph?" Lula asked.

I made a face. "You remember Amber, right?"

"The office skank?"

"Yeah."

Connie put her nail polish away so she could focus more on the gossip.

"She's been getting under my skin again. Flaunting her perfect butt all over the office, and scheduling all these lunches and dinners to go over 'important' financial business with Ranger."

"You tell him that it's bothering you?" Connie asked.

"He knows. He even offered to fire her."

"Seriously?" Lula gaped. "Damn, girl! That man _totally_ loves you."

"Believe me, I know. But the thing is, Amber's been doing some really good stuff for Rangeman lately. Like _really_ good. Genius, even. How could I possibly tell Ranger to fire her?"

Connie and Lula looked at each other.

"Can't you just catch her making goo-goo eyes at one of the guys and get her for sexual harassment or something?" Connie asked.

"It's crossed my mind." That or copying some sensitive material and dropping it in her fancy little briefcase. If it was important enough, maybe Ranger would consider pressing charges. And locking her away in a state of the art prison in Siberia or something.

Except then there would probably be some sort of investigation, and Rangeman is kind of known for its fancy, state-of-the-art security gizmos. Knowing my luck, the whole thing would get traced back to me, and I'd be in the doghouse for life. Little Miss Perfect definitely wasn't worth that kind of headache.

"I don't know," I sighed. "It's probably no big deal. I just need to put on my grownup pants and get over the whole jealousy thing."

"We've all been there, Steph," Lula said giving me a reassuring smile. "So if you need me to slash her tires or somethin', you just let me know."

"Here, here," Connie chimed in.

I smiled as I reached for the last donut. It was definitely a comfort to know I had the kind of friends who had my back in all the best ways.


	43. Chapter 43

After wasting some time at the bonds office, I decided to head back to Rangeman. Because I'd kinda hit a dead end with my whole Harley Quinn search. The Joyce theory was now toast-much to my ever-growing amusement. And nobody really struck any chords from all my skip-chasing adventures gone by.

Connie said she'd call if she remembered anything useful, so I wished my former colleagues a successful day of bad guy nabbing and went and hopped in my car. I sat there for several long moments staring at my cousin's now-faded business sign.

So much of my life had started right here. At the cross streets of desperation and starting over.

Don't get me wrong, the journey was one hell of a steep, upward climb. Like practically vertical at times without all that much to hold on to. But I had to admit, the view from the plateau I'd somehow managed to reach was pretty spectacular.

My footing felt much more solid these days. And I finally had a decent idea which direction I was going. For so many years I'd felt like a leaf just blowing aimlessly in the wind, jumping from one disaster to the next. And yet here I was; the untamable, headstrong girl with a lucky streak. And I'd somehow managed to find everything I hadn't even known I'd been looking for.

A tickle tweaked my nose, and then my eyes got all watery. I dabbed at them with my shirt sleeve, but the next thing I knew, I was a mess. Like the whole sobbing, uncontrollable tears kind. I was so far gone, I couldn't even stop if I'd wanted to.

Suddenly, I heard a sharp rap on my window. A very concerned-looking Cal stood outside my door motioning for me to open it. I rolled down the window instead.

"Sorry," I sniffed.

"Did something happen?"

"No, I'm fine."

He raised a skeptical eyebrow as he did a quick scan of my vehicle looking for anything offensive.

"Honest. It's just stress, I think." I dabbed at my eyes again.

Cal looked like he wasn't buying my story. Probably because Ranger threatens his men within an inch of their lives if anything remotely bad happens to me on their watch. It makes all the tears, scrapes, and bruises a much bigger deal than necessary, but whatever.

"Cal, it's okay. Really. I was just having a bit of a nostalgic moment."

He shook his head and sighed. "If you're skirting the truth for some reason and Ranger finds out, I'll probably get monitor duty for a month."

"So… _don't_ tell him my life was threatened at the bonds office today?"

Cal gave me a pained expression. "Was it?"

I smiled, shaking my head. "You know, you make this _way_ too easy sometimes."

He blew out an annoyed breath and walked back to the SUV. I gave a little finger wave before buckling my seatbelt. Then I pulled out of my parking space and headed for home.

###

Ranger wasn't in his office when I stopped off on the fifth floor to check my emails and sort through some paperwork. I glanced at my phone. It was close enough to lunch time to warrant a trip up to seven for some leftover Ella cooking. And maybe a nap. All the extra deep thinking lately was making me tired.

I grabbed my handbag and headed for the elevator. As I was letting myself into the apartment, I stopped suddenly. Something felt off.

I stood in the entryway and listened.

"Ranger?" I called after a moment.

He came padding out from the bedroom. "Hey."

His voice was deep and gravelly like he'd just been sleeping. I raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing up here?" I glanced at my watch and tapped it a few times to make sure it wasn't broken.

He walked out to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water. "Couldn't kick a headache. And I think the jet lag from the trip is affecting me more than it usually does."

"So, you were…"

He took a sip of water. "Taking a nap."

I stole a quick glance around the apartment wondering if the elevator ride had somehow transported me to a parallel universe or something. But everything looked as it should. Nothing was out of place.

"A nap," I repeated as if the word was part of a foreign language.

Ranger walked over behind me and leaned down to kiss my shoulder. His arms wrapped around my waist as he pulled me close. "Want to take the rest of the day and go somewhere fun?"

I spun around and took a cautious step backward. My eyes narrowed. "Okay, who are you, and what have you done with my husband?"

Ranger's mouth twitched. "Babe."

"I have to admit you've got the vocabulary down. And the looks. But there is _no way_ my husband would ever take an unscheduled day off. He's a workaholic."

Ranger was quiet for a moment, possibly considering the statement. "I am, aren't I?"

" _Yes_! But in a good way," I added not meaning to be offensive. "I doubt Rangeman would be nearly as successful if you weren't."

He shrugged. "So basically you're saying I'm due for some time off."

I was still looking at him like he was speaking an alien tongue. "Maybe by normal people's standards. But you're not exactly normal."

He took another sip of his water. "Is that a no then?"

"I'm not even sure how to answer that. I mean, what exactly do you do on your impromptu days off anyway?"

"Make my wife happy," he grinned.

Good answer.

"Want to head to the beach and walk the boardwalk for a while?" he asked.

I did actually. Because honestly, who doesn't like the beach?

"I…guess that would be ok."

Ranger didn't waste any time. He whipped out his cell phone and called Tank. "Steph and I are offline until further notice," he stated. "You're up if all hell breaks loose."

Tank said something back, and Ranger's mouth twitched into an almost-smile. Then he ended the call and turned to me. "Are you planning on going in that?"

I glanced down. "I guess. Unless you think I should change."

"Never."

"I meant my clothes."

He just smiled.


	44. Chapter 44

An hour later we were crawling along the beach bum infested streets of Point Pleasant. I cracked my window and breathed in the crisp, salty sea air. It was one of my favorite smells. That and Ranger. And lucky me, today I got to enjoy both.

"What made you want to go to the beach today?" I asked.

Ranger didn't do the whole beach scene very often. And it wasn't so much that he didn't enjoy it, I don't think. It was more the crowds that bothered him. And it can be somewhat difficult to keep your back to the wall when there aren't many walls to choose from. As a trained mercenary, I think he found the whole thing unsettling.

"Feeling nostalgic," he replied after a while.

I glanced out the window. We'd had a lot of great moments near the sand and surf. There was that trip to Barbados that had kind of been the official starting point to our relationship. And we'd also had a few dates along the Jersey coastline. Not to mention a wedding. The ocean was practically synonymous with lifetime highlights of Ranger and Stephanie.

"I didn't think you did nostalgic."

He took my hand in his. "Only on special occasions."

"Which special occasion is this?" I asked, still trying to sort out what was going on.

"You'll just have to wait and see."

Ranger's face was relaxed. And cryptic. Like he knew something that I didn't. Not that this was really all that unusual. Because my guess is Ranger knows _a lot_ of things that I don't. He's just that kind of guy.

But this was different. It was the way he kept looking at me. Like the look he'd had the entire week before he'd proposed. As if he was calculating the perfect moment to tell me something.

Yet from the way he'd been acting, I was having difficulty deciding if it was going to be a good something or a bad something. I honestly wasn't sure if I could handle a bad something right now. And considering my breakdown in front of the bonds office earlier, I wasn't so sure about a good something either.

"Just a head's up," I said, "I've been kind of stressed lately."

"I know."

"So I don't think surprises are the best way to go right now."

"Okay."

I stared at him. "That's it?"

"Did you want me to say something else?"

"No," I replied automatically. But my mind wouldn't allow me to accept my own answer. "Are you sure there isn't something you need to tell me? Like maybe why you've been so tired lately?"

He kept his eyes fixed straight ahead until we pulled into a lot for beach access parking. He watched me from the corner of his eye as we sat in silence looking out at the gray waves coming and going along the familiar coastline.

"I've been getting headaches," Ranger said.

I turned to face him. "What does that mean exactly? Are we talking the no-big-deal kind of headaches or something more serious?"

He took my hand and ran his thumb over my wedding band. "I don't know."

"Oh."

For a moment it felt like the earth had been knocked off its axis. Everything was still moving, but at a slightly skewed angle. Ranger had always been the very picture of strength and health. The poster boy for exercise and nutritious eating. In fact, I was pretty sure if you looked up "healthy" in the dictionary, there'd be a "see also" segment followed by a picture of Ranger. If anyone deserved to be getting weird headaches, it should be the girl who considered half a dozen donuts a balanced breakfast.

A sliver of sunlight broke through the clouds, and Ranger moved to get out of the car. "Want to walk the beach with me?"

I nodded numbly before we gradually made our way out to the rising tideline.

I kicked off my shoes and watched as my feet sunk slowly into the liquid sand. Ranger kept his shoes on, but wrapped his arm protectively around my waist. We walked for what felt like miles before I finally broke the silence.

"Are the headaches why we've been doing all the extra stuff lately?"

"What extra stuff?"

I stopped walking. "You know, like all the fancy meals and excursions in LA and Seattle. Or like today even."

He thought for a moment. "Life's been pretty busy lately. Some of it was just me wanting to spend some extra time with you."

I made an I'm-not-completely-buying-it face.

"And time's precious," he continued. "I don't want to take anything for granted."

It was the response I'd been dreading. Because the implication was that you only start worrying about taking things for granted when you realize they might not always be there. Time was precious because it was finite, and Ranger was currently considering the possibility that his might be running out.

I felt like I'd been socked in the gut.

"When were you going to tell me?" I forced myself to ask. I couldn't even look at him when I said it.

"I've got a few tests scheduled over the next week. I didn't want to worry you unnecessarily if it turned out to be nothing."

"And if it turns out to be something?"

He tipped my chin so I was looking directly into his tired yet beautiful eyes. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

I tried to keep the brimming tears from spilling over, but it was no use. We'd joined lives in such a seamless way that I wasn't sure the Stephanie I'd become could even exist without Ranger. His absence would leave a gaping hole too big to fill.

"Don't you dare leave me," I said, leaning into him. "Our story can't end that way."

"I'm afraid I don't hold that pen, babe."

"Then just promise me you'll continue being you. The only man I know who's capable of surviving impossible situations."

He kissed me and pulled me close. "I promise."


	45. Chapter 45

After the sun went down, Ranger and I went to a local seafood restaurant for dinner. Unfortunately, I was too hyped up from my recent emotional rollercoaster to enjoy much of it. In fact, I mostly sat and sipped a glass of ginger ale hoping all the butterflies that had taken up residence in my stomach would take a hint and leave. They didn't, so we got a to-go box in hopes I'd find my appetite later.

Which I did. Right about the time we passed an ice cream shop on the boardwalk.

I ordered a double scoop of fudge ripple, and Ranger watched in amusement as I devoured it in record time.

"I thought you said you weren't hungry." He held up the box containing my leftovers.

I shrugged. "Guess there's always room for ice cream."

He looked like he wanted to laugh for a moment, but he didn't. Instead his eyes crinkled slightly at the corners and transformed into pools of rich, deep chocolatey brown. "I love you, Stephanie Plum," he said softly.

"Manoso," I corrected.

He shook his head. "You'll always be Stephanie Plum, babe." He rubbed the rings on my finger. "I just get you on loan for a while."

I shook my head. "Nope."

"I don't get you on loan?"

"You get me for always. Because let's face it," I smirked trying to lighten the mood with some humor, "no one else wanted a lifetime with Calamity Jane."

The smile won out. "You _do_ keep things interesting."

"So I've heard." I took a few more steps and frowned. "I hate to break up this sentimental moment with a harsh jolt of reality, but I've had to pee for like the last twenty minutes. And if I don't find a bathroom soon, you're gonna have to buy me a pair of overpriced souvenir sweats."

He shook his head. "Babe."

###

Thankfully we found some restrooms before my state of emergency got too out of hand. I waddled into the first stall I saw and sighed in relief as I emptied my very-full bladder. In the back of my mind, I seem to recall the sound of the main door opening and closing as I was zipping up my pants.

Had my thoughts not been clouded by Ranger's recent health update or that intoxicating relief of making it to the toilet in time, I probably would have noticed my spidey sense starting to tingle.

Because Harley Quinn was waiting for me by the sinks.

"We just seem to keep running into each other, don't we?" she asked with a smirk.

"Apparently."

She took a menacing step towards me. "Sorry, sweetheart, but I'm on a bit of a tight schedule, and you've got something I want." She lunged for me, but I ducked and managed to momentarily slip away. "Not a fan of the easy way, I take it?"

I ran for the door, but she'd gone and locked it. My fingers fumbled frantically with the deadbolt. Then I felt something sharp like a needle prick my neck.

"You are so predictable," Harley Quinn spat just seconds before my world faded to black.


	46. Chapter 46

I woke up disoriented and nauseated. Probably because the whole room felt like it was moving. Up. Down. Up. I suddenly regretted eating that double scoop of ice cream earlier. At least there wasn't a full meal on top of it.

The fog gradually started to clear from my mind, and I looked around in an attempt to figure out where I was.

Wood. There was lots of glossy wood everywhere. And the unmistakable blended smells of saltwater and exhaust. I was probably on a boat. Which explained all the rocking.

And I was also tied to a chair.

Jeez. Why did I always end up tied to a chair? Was it convenience? Lack of imagination? I mean seriously people, there are other ways to bind and secure a hostage.

I pulled at my restraints and winced at a dull pain from a fracture that hadn't healed quite right. Depending on my luck, that poor wrist might have to get broken again. It wasn't my favorite thought, but I knew it was a possibility.

Thankfully the likelihood was slim considering Ranger was still out there somewhere. If there was anything that got that man revved up, it was a threat to my safety. He took his job as my protector very seriously.

And thanks to his slightly neurotic protective tendencies, I probably had some sort of tracker on my being that was dutifully transmitting my location this very moment. Rescue was already on its way. I just had to survive until it arrived. Easy peasy. No big deal.

The boat rocked and creaked as I debated my best course of action while waiting to be rescued. My options seemed a little on the limited side. I mean, I _could_ break free, try for a daring escape, and hope I wouldn't have to swim for miles with a broken arm before someone came across me bobbing like a cork in the ocean.

Ranger might do something like that. Heck, he probably had at some point. But me? Not so much. I only did the wild and reckless stuff when I'd exhausted some other options first.

Besides, it wasn't like I was in any immediate danger. No bombs were strapped to my chest with flashing red countdown numbers. No nutzo was waving a gun threateningly my direction. And from what I could tell, the boat wasn't sinking. That meant I had some time. Time to plan. Time to think things through.

Or so I thought.

Up until the moment someone descended the stairs to join me below deck. Except it wasn't the court jester from the bathrooms. It was…

" _Amber_?" I sputtered, my eyes bulging in shock.

She was wearing a black tank and black cargo pants; her hair was pulled back into a sleek, sexy ponytail. Basically she looked like she could have been at an audition for the next James Bond film.

"Don't look so surprised, Plum."

"It's Manoso," I growled through gritted teeth.

"Do I look like I give a shit?"

I narrowed my eyes. "You should. My husband's not a fan of people kidnapping me."

Amber's mouth curled into a malicious grin as if she knew something I didn't.

"Where's your accomplice?" I asked.

She stared at me in surprise. "So you _did_ figure it out."

"Well, I'm not stupid." At least I hoped I wasn't.

She smirked. "Could've fooled me."

I shot her a death glare. "Let me guess, she's the one upstairs playing sea captain."

"She?"

"Yeah, you know, your goon from the Suicide Squad."

Amber shook her head. "Damn, you really are dumb, Plum. I was having more fun when I thought you were smart."

My mind scrambled to catch up. Then it hit me like a ten ton brick. Sonofabitch!

"You!" I yelled. "That was _you_? In Seattle?"

"Well, it wasn't the freaking tooth fairy, now was it?"

Yep, it all made sense now. It was so _obvious_! Her face. Her figure. Her all-too-perfect bust line. I knew I'd recognized her! Too bad I was too distracted by my extreme hatred to put two and two together. Story of my life…

"What the hell? And why did you set me up with the police?"

She shrugged. "You didn't have the case, and I didn't want you getting in the way." Her lips curled into a nasty smile. "And it was funny."

Yeah, really funny…

"So who's driving the boat then?"

Amber thought about rolling her eyes, but went with that stupid smile instead. I really hated that smile.

"Hey!" she called up the stairs. "Think you can you come down here for a minute?"

Great. I was probably about to meet the Joker. What's a little more crazy to add to the party, right?

I heard footsteps on the stairs, and my heart froze in my chest when I felt a strange, familiar tingle at the base of my neck.

Time stopped when he spoke.

"Babe."


	47. Chapter 47

Denial has become one of my favorite coping mechanisms whenever I can't handle a situation. Like those times I found a body in my apartment. I just shrugged it off and told myself that it was probably one of those mannequins from a Halloween store. They get more realistic every year. And all that blood? Yeah, that's just the fake stuff. You can totally buy it on eBay by the gallon.

So when Ranger walked down the stairs and stood staring at me from across the room, I went straight to Denial Land. Do not pass "Go." Do not collect $200.

It was just another Scrogg situation. Because apparently Ranger had yet another doppelganger. That's just how it had to be. _My_ Ranger was still back somewhere along the boardwalk in Point Pleasant. That's how my brain was choosing to process everything. So for the time being, it was the truth. If on the off chance it wasn't, something in me was going to snap. And I had a bad feeling it was going to be my sanity.

"Who might you be?" I asked, playing along with my own mental charade.

His mouth twitched. "Carlos," he stated robotically.

"That's cool. You like to assume other people's identities?"

"No."

I felt a hairline crack in the glass-like façade I'd constructed. Maybe it was time to stop talking. Words were dangerous.

Amber watched me from the corner of her eye as she slid an arm around Ranger's neck, pulling him down to kiss his cheek. My stomach lurched so violently that it took all my willpower to avoid hurling all over the floor. This was so not a good day for me.

Amber gave a chilly grin. "Don't you love modern drugs?"

I stared blankly back at her.

"Your little hubby here received a few 'common sense' injections back on the pier. You know, to help him make some better decisions."

I shot her a death glare. "You're despicable."

"That's funny because I could probably say the same about you. You messed everything up with my husband, now I'm just returning the favor."

I felt another crack splinter my house that denial built. "Listen, you nutty bitch, I don't have the foggiest clue who your husband even is. If he was someone from my bond enforcement days, I was just doing my job. Honest."

"Your job," she scoffed. "Your only job was to get married in Vegas. And what did you do? You went and screwed that whole thing up."

"Get married in Vegas?"

"To Ben Johnson."

My mind felt like it was on one of those supersonic rollercoaster rides. "What the hell does that even have to do with you?"

Amber walked over and tapped on my head. "Think, Plum. I only want what's mine."

What belonged to Amber? A one-way ticket to hell, as far as I was concerned. But she seemed to think she was entitled to that stupid case. The one Barney had been so obsessed with. And then, just like that, I got it.

Holy. Shit.

"You were Barney's _wife_?" I sputtered.

She gave me yet another one of those stupid smiles.

"You were _married_ …to _Barney?!"_

"Well, as married as you can get with aliases these days."

I just sat there in stunned silence with my mouth hanging open like a hooked fish. It was all too weird. Even for me.

So what did I do? I laughed. I laughed and laughed and laughed. I laughed until my side hurt and tears were streaming down my cheeks. Because I had totally lost it. I'd finally reached my breaking point.

"So…what now?" I asked, still doubled over and breathless.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Ranger still standing across the room. His expression hadn't changed; that lifeless blank stare remained firmly in place. Maybe Amber had turned him into a cyborg.

"If you're a good girl and cooperate," Amber crooned, "I'll try to make your death as painless as possible."

Gee, hadn't heard _that_ one before…

"Sure," I giggled. "Why not? What do I need to do to cooperate?"

She gave me a look like I was the biggest idiot on the planet. I was starting to think that maybe that wasn't too far off the mark.

"The key, Plum. I just want the damn key."

Although Amber looked sufficiently irritated, I had to admit she didn't look all that crazy. And I'd seen enough crazy in my day to have plenty of comparisons. The not-crazy factor was kind of hard to work with. On the one hand, it meant I didn't have to worry about her suddenly whipping out a gun and shooting anything that moved. On the other, it meant I couldn't easily distract or fool her. Lies weren't going to get me very far here.

Guess the truth was the only way to go.

"Hate to be the bearer of bad news," I frowned. "But I don't have it with me."

Amber turned to Ranger. "Is she telling the truth?"

He gave a singular shake of his head. "No."

Then Amber pulled a Glock from behind her back. She removed the safety and walked over to me. "Let's try this again, shall we?"

Her menacing stare gave me a fresh wave of chills.

"No," Ranger's dark voice cut through the silence. "Let me."

I'd always been of the opinion that it wouldn't be a very pleasant experience to be on Ranger's bad side. The look he was giving me now only validated that opinion.

It was the first time I'd ever felt genuinely scared of him. Including our first meeting in that diner all those years ago when he looked like a cross between Dangerous Minds and The Terminator. Probably because I still couldn't fully process him as _my_ Ranger. Even despite the tell-tale neck tingles I was getting in spades. And if he somehow turned out to be the real deal, there was no way I could trust him anymore. He obviously wasn't in his right mind.

I stared directly into his eyes as he approached me. "Are you going to hurt me, Carlos?" I asked as if using his name could somehow break the terrible, drug-induced spell.

For a moment I thought I saw something. A look maybe. Or a subtle change in his expression. But I blinked and it was gone.

"That's entirely up to you, babe."

I knew he could see the fear in my eyes. There was nothing I could do to hide it.

"Why would I lie?" I asked, hoping to buy some time.

"Self-preservation," came the flat reply.

He knelt down in front of me and undid the ties binding my feet. I cringed wondering if he was planning on breaking my toes. I tried tucking them beneath the chair.

His hand grasped my leg faster than a streak of lightning, and I squeaked in surprise. He slowly pulled my feet back to their previous exposed position.

Then the tears started.

"Please," I begged in a hoarse whisper. "Don't do this. You _love_ me." The words caught in my throat. "You _love_ me," I breathed softly again, hanging my head in defeat.

A slight tremor shook his hand as he slid my shoe off. I felt a surge of panic when I realized he was showing some unprecedented levels of restraint. Like maybe it was all he could do to keep from snapping my neck. Given the situation, I kind of wished he would just go ahead and do it.

To my surprise, Ranger suddenly released his grip on my foot, picked up my shoe, and brought it over to Amber. He pulled out a switchblade, and with a quick flick of his hand pried the insole out revealing a small, silver key.

But not _the_ silver key.

I snuck a subtle glance at Ranger. This was all a setup.

Amber's eyes widened like she was looking at the Holy Grail. "Finally," she breathed.

I wriggled against my restraints. "What is so damn important about this stupid case anyway? Did they steal the bloody hope diamond or something?"

"You think too small, Plum," she replied, her focus glued to the key, eyes shining with greed.

"I've heard that diamond is pretty good-sized, actually."

Amber gave me an annoyed look before turning to Ranger. "What on earth did you see in her, Carlos? Honestly, you could have done so much better."

"Hey!" I yelled.

In all honesty, he probably could have done better. But I was the only one allowed to think that.

Ranger glanced back at me a moment. Then he turned to Amber. "Go get the case."

Amber disappeared up the stairs, and I narrowed my eyes.

"Ricardo Carlos Manoso," I said in a forced whispered. " _You_ have some _serious_ explaining to do."

His mouth twitched at the corner. "Babe."


	48. Chapter 48

I heard footsteps again, and watched as Amber descended the stairwell with a sleek, silver case. It looked like something you could probably shoot through a cannon up against a brick wall, torch with a flame thrower, and still expect to find in one piece. Indestructible. Guess someone really wanted its contents safe and secure.

Amber set it on top of a table and inserted the key. I held my breath.

The lock clicked, and Amber's grin widened in eager anticipation. Her eyes practically glowed at the prospect of the prize she was about to uncover. She slowly lifted the lid.

And that's when all hell broke loose.

A thick, white gas began pouring from the case, and I suddenly realized Ranger was standing next to me. He used his switchblade to cut through my bindings, pulled my shirt up over my mouth and nose, and started shoving me toward the stairwell.

The sounds of Amber shrieking and sputtering all jumbled together in my mind as I stumbled my way up the stairs. My feet felt heavy and clumsy, and I tripped. Then something popped, and I felt Ranger lurch forward behind me as he continued to push me toward the upper deck.

Once I reached the last step, I collapsed on the ground and rolled onto my back taking in several deep breaths of the fresh air. For the time being, the boat kept rocking and I kept breathing. And the world probably kept turning too. But it shouldn't have.

All the extra adrenaline finally started to wear off, and I was more or less able to think again. At least enough to get by. I rolled to my side expecting to find Ranger sprawled out next to me. And he was.

Surrounded by a growing pool of red.

My hands and knees shook as I drug myself over to him. His chest rose and fell in short, jerky movements. I blew out a shaky breath of relief. At least he was still alive.

"Shit," I croaked as I glanced down.

There was so much blood. Too much.

That pop I'd heard on the stairwell. Here I'd thought I'd been the one who'd been injured, but apparently Amber had gotten a lucky shot off before collapsing in the gas-filled room. And Ranger had taken that bullet.

His eyes turned to me as he took one of my hands and placed it on his stomach.

"Pressure," he mouthed.

Oh gosh. I couldn't handle this. I mean, I was the girl who got queasy watching those dumb ER hospital shows. And that stuff was all fake! This was about as real as it got. Ranger was really bleeding. A lot. Too much.

"I...can't," I sniffled, shaking my head frantically.

His eyes locked onto mine. He didn't say anything.

"Don't," I begged. "Please."

The gaze held for several long, terrifying moments as I repositioned my body to press against his wound. I hoped more than I'd ever hoped for anything before that I'd somehow find the strength to hold in the life that was quickly draining out.

###

"You can let go now, little girl," a voice said as someone tried to move my hands.

I shook my head.

"Steph, I need you to come with me. Bobby's got Ranger."

I just kept shaking my head.

"I can't tell if you're hurt if I can't see where all the blood's coming from."

"It…" I choked out.

It was all his _._

I started sobbing.

I'd been here before. With the bullet wounds and all the blood. With Ranger's life hanging precariously in the balance. But there had been cops and medics ready to go that time. He had been anticipating those wounds.

I had a strong feeling that the wound from today had been a surprise. And then we'd waited half an eternity for the cavalry. Apparently trackers bobbing out at sea are more difficult to find than the stationary ones on land.

Strong arms pulled me onto my feet and wrapped me in a supportive hug. Then a flurry of pins and needles exploded throughout my lower body. Apparently I'd been sitting in that position longer than I'd thought.

"You did good," someone reassured me as they half-walked, half-carried me onto another boat. "It's going to be ok."

I sat on a bench, and someone wrapped me in a blanket. "It's going to be ok," they said again, rubbing my back reassuringly.

But I knew that it wasn't. Because there was still too much commotion. And too much muffled cursing.

Ranger's face had been paler than I'd ever seen it. And that was before I couldn't bear to look at him anymore. Before I couldn't bear to watch him die.

Surely they would have told me if that had happened already.

Surely I would know.

How could you not know the moment a piece of your heart is severed from your body?

Once again I felt the boat rocking beneath me. The boat kept rocking and I kept breathing. And the world probably kept turning too. But it shouldn't have.


	49. Chapter 49

My alarm beeped somewhere off in the distance. I reached over to hit the snooze button, but my arm connected with something else before I could hit it. Something hard. A railing?

I blinked my eyes open and waited as the foggy haze of sleep disappeared. The alarm kept beeping, but of course, it wasn't an alarm. I was hooked up to a machine. In a hospital.

Tank was standing next to my bed.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

I opened my mouth to respond, but that was before I realized it was full of cotton.

"Water," I mouthed.

He poured me a glass from my bedside table and plunked in a straw. I took a few sips.

"Thanks."

A beat of silence passed between us.

"Where is he, Tank?" I finally asked.

"ICU."

Tank's expression didn't reveal much, but considering I half-expected him to say the morgue, I felt a momentary rush of relief.

"What the hell happened back there?" I asked.

"I'm afraid that's a story for later. Right now there's a doctor who wants to come in and check on you. Says he needs to go over a few things."

I nodded. "You're not off the hook, you know."

Tank almost smiled. "I know."

He stepped out of the room, and a few minutes later, a middle-aged doctor appeared. He grabbed my chart and flipped through some papers.

"I'm Doctor Robinson. How are you feeling, Mrs. Manoso?"

"I've had better days."

The doctor nodded in understanding. "Everything looks pretty good here. According to your chart, I don't really have a reason to keep you. Your vitals are all good, no broken bones, no concussions. And the baby looks good too."

My mouth dropped before I gave a laugh. "No offense, doc, but I think you grabbed the wrong chart."

He flipped through the papers again. "Are you not Stephanie Manoso?"

"I am," I stated slowly, "but there's no baby."

He smiled. "Your blood tests and ultrasound seem to say otherwise."

My eyes widened. "I had an ultrasound?"

"It was requested when you were brought in."

I thought about that for a moment. "Who requested it?"

More paperwork shuffling. "Um, it doesn't say here, but several men brought you in. I could go see…"

"Tank!" I yelled.

"Mrs. Manoso, I'm going to have to ask you to keep your voice down. I don't want to upset any of the other patients."

I narrowed my eyes in defiance. "Tank!" I yelled again.

A series of muffled footsteps could be heard outside my door. "Steph? Is everything okay in there?"

The doctor opened the door. "Is this the father?"

I gave him a look like he was an idiot. "No!"

"Stop shouting, Mrs. Manoso."

Tank walked over to the bed. "Is everything okay?"

"No. No, it most certainly is not. Who requested the ultrasound?"

It was the first time I'd ever seen Tank look sheepish.

I reached up and grabbed a fistful of his shirt, pulling him toward me. " _Who_?"

His eyes widened. "Technically it was Bobby."

" _Bobby_? How the hell did Bobby know?"

"Know what?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Don't you dare play dumb with me, _Pierre_ ," I growled.

A nurse appeared. "Do we have a problem here?" she asked, looking at the doctor.

Tank sighed. "There's no problem. Right, Steph?"

"There _won't_ be if you hurry up and tell me who knew."

He ran his hand through his hair. "It was Ranger, ok?"

"Pfff, like I'm gonna believe _that_. The man was knocking at death's door. You expect me to believe he had one final lucid moment where he told you all to get me an ultrasound?"

Tank pulled out a small piece of paper from his pocket. "He was holding this."

I opened it. "Stephanie carrying precious cargo," was scribbled in a familiar script.

Tank squeezed my hand. "Guess he wanted to make sure you both were safe."

 _Both._

I fell back into my pillows and tried to focus on my breathing. Because the room was starting to spin, and my lungs were forgetting how to work again. Stupid, faulty organs.

"That's it, Mrs. Manoso. Deep breaths."

Thanks, doc. I kind of already know that part.

Once the breathing was back under control, I sat up.

"I need to see him."

Tank shook his head. "They're not allowing visitors. Not yet, anyway."

I turned to the doctor. "It's imperative that I see Ricardo Carlos Manoso. He's my husband and a patient currently in your ICU."

The doctor nodded, probably not wanting to further upset the obviously hormonal pregnant lady. "I'll see what I can do."


	50. Chapter 50

I slowly walked over to Ranger's bed. "I know I said there would never be a time you wouldn't be sexy, but I've got to admit, this really isn't your best look."

Pumps hissed and monitors beeped around us. I smoothed the dark hair away from his eyes.

"You know, I really want to be mad at you. Like _really_ mad. Because I think you've been keeping me out of the loop here for a while now. And I seem to recall a recent conversation where I told you that now wasn't a good time for surprises."

His chest rose and fell in time with the hissing machines.

"But," I choked out. "It's really hard to stay mad at someone who takes a bullet for you. So I guess you're kind of off the hook."

The monitor pinged out the rhythm of his heartbeat.

"I bet you'll want to frame the x-ray later. Everyone keeps saying how it was a million dollar wound. Millimeters away from some of the really vital stuff." My hand curled around his. "I guess the blood loss was pretty bad though. Turns out I didn't do a very good job playing doctor out there."

I felt my chest tighten and my eyes well up. In an effort to keep it together, I decided to change the subject. I pulled some things out of my shoulder bag.

"When you get a moment, I'd really like to know what tipped you off about the whole pregnancy thing. I mean, you were right, as always. But usually it's the girl who reaches these conclusions first."

I held up a black and white picture, and leaned in closer. "This is for your ears only, but I have no idea what I'm even looking at here. Thankfully the doc circled this little white splotchy amoeba thing in the middle and said it looked healthy and normal. So I guess that's it. That's our baby."

I realized then that I hadn't said that out loud yet.

Our baby.

"We haven't exactly had this conversation yet, so I hope it's ok." I felt a tear slide down my cheek. Damn. I'd been doing so well.

"Except the thing is, there's no way I can do all of this on my own. So you need to keep your promise. You need to be that man capable of surviving those impossible situations."

A nurse stepped into the room. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Manoso, but I'm afraid your time's up."

I handed the nurse the picture. "Can you put this somewhere nearby for him?"

She gave me a small smile. "Sure. And congratulations."

"Thanks."

With one final mouthed "I love you," I turned and walked out of the room.

###

Tank was waiting for me downstairs. "They need you to sign a few more things for your discharge paperwork."

I sighed. "Of course they do."

Tank handed me the clipboard. I signed my name next to all the red marks.

"So what now?"

"We figured you'd want to stick around the area, so I went ahead and booked a few hotel rooms close by for the time being."

I frowned. "I wish I could just stay here."

"We all do. But I think you'll be more comfortable with a bed and a shower. Les even said he'd take you out shopping if you need some clothes."

I gave a small smile. "Did he now?"

"Something about feeling guilty for making you sweat so much when you were busy growing a human."

"Right? He totally should have known better."

Tank almost smiled. "Want to grab some food before we head over to the hotel?"

I grinned. "You know what they say about pregnant ladies…"


	51. Chapter 51

My arms were full of take-out when I made it back to the hotel later that day. I dropped the bags on the side table in my room and slumped onto the giant, king-sized bed. It felt empty. Like it was missing something. Or someone.

I brought a hand up to wipe a stray tear, and it bumped something on the mattress. I picked it up expecting to find some sort of remote. But I found a chocolate bar instead.

At least I thought it was a chocolate bar. The box said Swiss chocolate with honey and almond nougat. Sounded pretty legit to me.

"Toblerone," I said, tracing the label on the unfamiliar box.

"Kate always makes a big deal over them," a somewhat familiar voice said from the chair in the corner.

"Holy shit!" I yelled, grabbing my chest in shock.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

A casually dressed Nick Fox stood and walked towards me.

"How's Ranger?" he asked.

"Just peachy. What are _you_ doing here?"

"Upholding my part of a bargain."

"What bargain?"

He shoved his hands in his pockets. "The impossible people in exchange for the impossible case."

I blew out an annoyed breath as I got up for a glass of water from the sink. "I don't do all the cryptic crap, so if you're here for a reason, you better spit it out now, or else I'm going to call in my lethal legion of doom."

Nick took a seat in the chair again. "As I'm sure you know, Ranger helped Kate and I bring in some rather…challenging targets back in Seattle. So I helped him organize a con to help eliminate a threat and find a rumored treasure."

I sighed. "Didn't you hear? There wasn't any treasure. No account info. The whole thing was booby-trapped."

Nick raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that?"

"Pretty damn sure. I watched Lady McLooneyTunes get gassed when she opened that stupid thing."

"What if it was a different case?"

I thought about it a moment. Right. It had been a different silver key. "The case she stole was all a set-up then?"

Nick smiled like a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar. Then he frowned. "Except she hired someone else to steal it for her. I guess Ranger's guy, Silvio, had some difficulty figuring out the connections there. Amber was top of her game when it came to covering her tracks. Made it difficult to trace her involvement."

"I don't _ever_ want to hear that name again," I glowered.

Nick shrugged. "She'd been watching you, you know."

"Me? Why?"

"After what happened with Barney. She thought you'd figured out what he was after and…you know, effectively eliminated the competition."

I sighed before reaching in to one of the bags for a carton of fried rice. "People really give me way too much credit."

Nick laughed and walked over to peek into the bag. "Got any eggrolls in there?"

"I don't recall inviting you to stay."

He gave me a look of mock offense. "I thought we were having a moment here. Aren't you interested in the rest of the story?"

"No. Besides, I think I already know the rest. The crazy lunatic weaseled her way into our lives after she realized Ranger was hunting leads on the case. I'll bet she didn't even have a legitimate accounting degree."

"Actually, one of her aliases did," Nick countered. "Harvard business school even."

"Forged."

"I'm not so sure. I mean, I've definitely seen my fair share of forgeries, and…"

"It. Was. Forged," I said cutting him off.

He gave me a knowing smile. "Sure. We'll go with that."

"Want to know the one thing I _don't_ understand?" I asked. "How did the whole mind-altering drug stuff fit in? Amber claimed she'd drugged Ranger before the whole boat ride from hell, but he obviously wasn't as affected as she'd thought." Thank God.

Nick laughed. "Ranger's not exactly normal, Steph. What do you want to bet he's immune."

I frowned. "Too bad he's not immune to bullets."

Nick was quiet for a moment. "Sorry about that. I think the timing got messed up somehow."

"Apparently."

Nik got up and started making his way toward the door. "I know this doesn't make a bit of difference right now, but I'm a man of my word-mostly," he winked. "And I keep my promises. To people that count." He handed me a sheet of paper.

"What's this?" I asked.

"The contents of the case. As promised."

I raised an eyebrow. "It looks like an address."

Nick shrugged. "Think of it more as a trophy room."

"A _trophy_ room?"

"All the best have 'em."

"The best what?"

"Con artists," he grinned.

I just sat there staring at the paper.

"Do _you_ have one?" I asked.

But Nick Fox was already gone.


	52. Chapter 52

The next morning I was back at the hospital, driving the nurses crazy trying to get them to let me see my husband.

"You can see him once they've finished changing his dressings," the nurse at the nurse's station reiterated.

"It's not like I haven't seen stuff like that before," I protested. "They won't even notice I'm in there. I promise."

"Rules are rules, Mrs. Manoso. I'm sure they'll be done soon."

I walked back over to Tank in a huff. "They said I need to wait."

Tank offered me a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "He's not going anywhere, Bomber. Just chill for a few more minutes."

"Did you just tell me to ' _chill_ '?"

Tank's eyes widened slightly. "No."

I grinned. "Just messing with you, big guy."

He shook his head. "You're scary. Maybe Ranger should hang out here until the delivery. Might be safer."

My eyes narrowed. "Now _that's_ crossing a line."

He held his hands up in surrender.

Lucky for Tank, a nurse poked her head out from Ranger's room and motioned for me to come inside. I leapt from my chair and darted right in.

Ranger didn't look much better than the last time I saw him. All the machines were still going. His eyes were still closed.

"Hey, handsome," I said as I took a seat by his bedside. "You might be interested to know I had an unexpected visitor yesterday."

Part of me expected him to open his eyes and say his signature "babe." But he didn't.

"It was our slippery friend, Nick Fox. He snuck into my hotel room and was waiting for me when I got back from picking up some food."

I pulled out the paper from my purse. "He said this is what he owed you. You know, the contents of the case." I sighed. "I wish you could have been there though because I kind of feel like maybe I was duped. What exactly did you want with some silly address? I thought this was about money."

No answer.

"Well, anyway, here it is. Nick said it's kind of like a trophy room. Which I assume means it houses a collection of priceless stolen goods. Not really sure I feel all that comfortable holding on to stuff like that, but I figure you've got your reasons. You always do."

I squeezed his hand. "I wish you'd wake up. It feels like there's so much I need to tell you. Like how I dreamt about the three of us last night. Gosh, that feels weird to say. The three of us. And we were, you know, just pushing a stroller along the boardwalk in Point Pleasant like a couple of regular people. And we looked pretty happy. _You_ looked happy, Ranger," I sniffed.

My eyes got all teary, and I drummed my fingers a while on his bed railing trying to regain my composure. "It really ought to be the three of us though. Two just isn't going to cut it. Well, maybe if it was just you and the baby because you're pretty much good at everything. But me? Babies always seem to cry when I hold them. And I still can't cook without starting fires. And those car seats look really complicated nowadays. Like something on board the NASA space shuttle or something. And one time I forgot to feed Rex for like a whole day. What if I did that with a baby?"

I stopped and took a breath.

"You're right. I probably shouldn't panic like that. It's just that babies are really intimidating. And a pretty big deal."

"And," my eyes started to well up, "I'm so terrified if I lose you, our baby will have your eyes. And I'll look into them every single day and miss you so much. I don't want to be sad looking at our baby, Ranger. So, it's time for you to wake up."

I glanced up and saw the ultrasound picture taped to the side of Ranger's bedside table. And I frowned a little. Because I still had no idea how that was even a picture of a baby, but whatever. It was our baby. And that made those black and white smears special. And beautiful.

I squeezed Ranger's hand and stood up and kissed his forehead. "A promise is a promise," I whispered. "We'll be here waiting. As long as it takes."


	53. Chapter 53

"Come on, just this one more store. Please?"

Lester looked like I'd asked if I could remove all his fingernails with pliers.

I put my hands on my hips. "Hey, you were the one who volunteered for taking me out shopping."

He held up several bags. " _This_ isn't shopping, Beautiful. _This_ is insanity. You tried on like ten dresses at that last shop. _Five_ times."

I shrugged. "I couldn't make up my mind."

"Apparently," he muttered.

Then I thought I heard him grumble something about crazy pregnant women, but I decided to let it go. This time. I was probably torturing him enough.

We walked along the storefronts until I found a boutique that looked promising. Les heaved a weary sigh as I held the door open for him.

I grinned deviously. "Payback's a bitch, huh?"

"I'll say." His expression said it all.

Midway through trying on a sundress, I heard a knock on my dressing room door.

"Steph, we've gotta go," Lester said.

"But I'm not finished…"

"Tank just sent me a text to bring you back to the hospital."

My heart stopped. "Did he say why?"

"No."

"Jeez! You guys really need to work on your communication skills. Details, people! They're not that hard."

I grabbed all my things and joined Lester in the hall. "Well, don't just stand there! Let's go!"

He shook his head and smiled. "As soon as you put your pants back on, Beautiful."

I rolled my eyes and went back in to pull on my pants.

###

I barely let Lester finish parking the car before I took off racing through the lot in front of the hospital. I rushed through the main doors and considered taking the elevator for all of two seconds before deciding on the stairs. They were faster.

Twenty seconds later, I was panting and sputtering my way over to Ranger's room in the ICU. The door was already open, so I let myself in.

Only to find an orderly putting new sheets on the bed. No sign of Ranger anywhere.

Oh God.

"Where is he?" I blurted, already feeling frantic.

"I'm sorry, where's who, ma'am?" the orderly asked, obviously oblivious.

I whipped the hanging curtain back and forth trying to decide if this was all some sort of optical illusion or something.

"My husband!" I yelled. "Where's my husband?"

A nurse appeared at the door. "Mrs. Manoso, I'm…"

" _Don't '_ Mrs. Manoso' me. Where's my _husband?"_

"If you'll just come with me," the nurse said, gently taking me by the elbow.

I ripped my arm from her grasp. "I will _not_ just come with you! Tell me where my husband is!"

"He's…"

"Don't you dare start with all the sugar-coating shit," I growled, shoving her up against the door.

A security guard started making his way over to the room.

The nurse's eyes widened. "If you'd just give me a minute to…"

"Jeez, lady! What is so damn hard about the sentence 'Your husband is…'?"

"Excuse me, ma'am," the security guard cut in. "I'm going to have to ask you to come with me."

"No!" I yelled, shoving him back.

He grabbed my arms. "Just until you can calm down a little."

"I can't!" I screamed. "No one is telling me where he is!"

I yanked my arms from his hold and ran toward the nurse's station. I started frantically grabbing at paperwork and tossing clipboards willy-nilly trying to find anything with Ranger's name attached. Nothing! What did that mean? I hoped it didn't mean…

"Alright, missy, sorry about this." The security guard grabbed my arms again, but this time added a fancy pair of cuffs too.

"No!" I shrieked. "I just want to know where he is!" I sobbed. " _Please_! Would someone _please_ tell me where he _is_?"

"Oh, good grief!" the nurse from the room exclaimed. "He's downstairs!"

Oh God!

"In the _morgue_?" I croaked.

"No! He's in recovery!"

I took my first real breath since I'd set foot in the ICU. " _Really_?" I almost whispered. The tears were so thick I could barely see.

"Yes! That's what I have been _trying_ to tell you."

"Oh."

The security guard sighed. He looked over at the nurse. "I'll make sure she gets where she needs to go. What room number?"

"206."

He nodded, and we headed for the elevator.


	54. Chapter 54

A few merry men were standing outside room 206 when the security guard "escorted" me in. Eyes widened, and I could've sworn there were a few muffled laughs, but I tried to ignore them. All that mattered was the man in the room.

Ranger was propped up against some pillows, and there weren't as many beeps and hisses echoing nearby. His eyes locked with mine, and suddenly I couldn't see a damn thing. The tears were just too thick.

I rushed over to him but forgot my hands were secured behind my back. I rattled my arms against the cuffs as I tried to bring them forward to wrap around Ranger. Finally, the security guard came over and unlocked them.

"I take it you won't be a problem anymore, Mrs. Manoso."

He only managed to get one bracelet off before my arms wrapped tightly around my husband. I was already sobbing and blubbering; a complete mess of a human being. I didn't care.

"She's pregnant," Ranger said softly as he stroked my hair.

"Right." The guard quickly removed the other bracelet and took a step back.

That must have been when he departed because I don't recall seeing him after that.

Ranger slid over in the bed, and I crawled in next to him. Gosh, did he feel good! All muscular and warm. Not to mention alive.

I buried my face in his neck and breathed him in. He kissed the top of my head, and we just sat there. For a long, long time.

Up until the moment I felt him start shaking beneath me. The laugh started out soft; that quiet, subtle laugh he often had. But it didn't take long for it to grow and spread throughout his entire body. I glanced up to find he had tears in his eyes. From laughing. And maybe from the pain of his healing bullet wound.

"Babe," he snickered.

I frowned.

"You do realize a security guard brought you into my room in cuffs."

"I kind of had a problem upstairs."

He gave a silent laugh. "What kind of problem?"

"The kind where I didn't know where you were."

"And?"

"And I may have thrown some papers and clipboards around trying to get some answers."

He gave another laugh, but it turned into a small wince. "You never disappoint."

"I thought…I'd lost you," I sniffed, fighting back a fresh round of tears.

He pulled me close and kissed my head again. "I know."

We sat in silence again.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. "What happened back on the boat?" I asked. It was the one question that had been eating me up the last few days. And no one was giving me answers.

Ranger ran his fingers through my hair. "I hadn't considered the possibility that Amber would follow us to Point Pleasant."

"But you knew she was the one behind everything?"

"Silvio sent me some encrypted emails the day before the whole boat incident providing some strong evidence as to her involvement."

I frowned. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"She was obviously dangerous. And a professional. I wanted you somewhere safe when I confronted her."

"So she took you by surprise on the boardwalk?"

"More or less. Although the case was already in play as a contingency plan. Thanks to Fox."

"And the silver key that wasn't _the_ silver key in my shoe?"

"Slipped it in when I was tying you up."

Clever. But… "Why not just shoot her?" It's not like that man didn't always carry a gun.

"She got to you first, and I didn't want to take any chances. Give her any opportunity to hurt you." He glanced down. "Either of you."

His fingers brushed the lower part of my stomach. He smiled. "How far along?"

"The doctor said ten weeks. Or thereabouts." You know, because apparently I hadn't been keeping careful track of this stuff…

The smile grew. "Thirty to go."

 _Thirty?_ Jeez!

I sighed. "Why is it you know more about this stuff than I do? I always thought it was nine months."

"Babe."

"Then why do they always say that?"

His mouth twitched slightly at the corners. I was amusing him.

He reached over to a table and came back with the black and white ultrasound picture. "I think she kind of looks like you," he grinned.

 _She_?

I raised my eyebrows. "Based on what? If anything, I'd say I'm growing some kind of alien in there." Or a blurry dot of mystery. Sounded about right for a Batbaby.

Ranger leaned down and kissed me, soft and sweet. "But it's _our_ alien."

My eyes glazed over a little. Partly from the kiss. And partly from something else. "I'm not sure I'm ready for all of this," I confessed. I let the statement linger. "Are you?"

He shrugged. "No one's ever _really_ ready, babe. It's a big change."

I leaned into him and listened to his heartbeat. "Is this something you wanted?" I asked quietly. A little unsure of the answer.

There was a long stretch of silence as he considered the question. "It's definitely something I hadn't been planning on."

I felt my face frown a little.

"But," he continued, "I haven't planned a lot of things lately." His fingers gently traced over my wedding bands. "And I have zero regrets with how everything's turned out. Some of the best things in life are unplanned. And I'm sure this baby won't be any different."

I sat up and stared into his eyes. "Wow."

Ranger smiled.

Then my expression turned serious. "You do realize you're going to have to deal with all the car seat stuff though, right? The whole installation practically requires a PHD these days."

Ranger shook his head and smiled. "Babe."


	55. Chapter 55

A few days later, Ranger was released from the hospital, and we began the process of resuming our regular routines back at Rangeman. Now with the added bonus of bullet-wound recovery, crazy pregnancy hormones, and morning sickness.

One afternoon I was in the process of regurgitating my second breakfast on seven when I heard the front door open and close.

"In here," I called.

I quickly wiped my mouth and started swishing around some water before Ranger had the misfortune of walking in on me kneeling at the porcelain throne. Again.

"Still not past it yet?" I heard him ask from the doorway.

I frowned. "I was just reading somewhere that there are women who have morning sickness their _entire_ pregnancy. Isn't that awful?"

Ranger made a face. "That's rare though, right?"

"One can only hope."

He walked over and kissed my head. Then he wrapped his arms around me. "I came up here to talk with you about some things."

I raised my eyebrows in curiosity. "Such as?"

"The headaches I've been having."

My heart skipped a beat. "I'd kind of forgotten about those, actually."

Near-death experiences tend to overshadow trivial things like headaches. But now that I was thinking about it again, maybe they weren't all that trivial.

"So what do we need to talk about? Is this something I should be sitting down for?"

Ranger's mouth twitched. "Not likely."

" _Well_?" I pressed impatiently.

"I had a few scans done before I left the hospital." He paused. "And the good news is they all came back clean."

I breathed out a sigh of relief. "That's great!"

"But," he continued.

I hated the word "but." It practically ruined whatever was said before it.

" _But_?"

"Things are going to be a little different around here."

I frowned. "I thought you said all the scans came back clean?"

"They did. Turns out my brain is fine. My eyes on the other hand…"

"Oh my gosh! What's wrong with your eyes?"

Ranger laughed. "Nothing. Well, not _nothing_. Turns out I just need glasses."

I pressed my lips firmly together in an extreme effort not to laugh. " _Glasses?"_ I blurted.

Batman needed glasses. That was just about as crazy as finding out Superman needed a cane.

He gave me a look. "It's not funny."

"Of course it isn't," I snorted back a snicker. But the mental image of Ranger in thick-rimmed glasses from the 70's just wouldn't leave my mind.

"It's not a big deal. I went ahead and ordered some contacts."

"Ooh!" I exclaimed, suddenly getting excited. "You should get those ones with the bat symbol on them! Or go with the all-black ones. They're freaky."

"If it's all the same to you," he said, almost rolling his eyes, "I went with the regular, _clear_ ones. Because they're something I need, _not_ a fashion accessory."

I stuck my lip out in a faux pout. "You're no fun."

He slid his hands under my shirt as his lips brushed the spot just below my ear. "Care to revise that statement, babe?"

"I didn't think you were cleared for any strenuous activity," I purred.

"Then I guess you had better be very, _very_ gentle with me."

I licked my lips. Then I frowned. "Hold that thought."

I rummaged through the cupboards. "What happened to the mouthwash?"

Ranger made a face. "You must have used it all."

Damn. Tasting like partially digested food was a real mood killer.

"Raincheck?"

###

Several days later, I was sitting in Ranger's office on seven googling the nine hundred million so-called "remedies" for morning sickness when I felt a familiar tingle at the base of my neck.

"Ranger?" I called.

I hadn't heard the door, but considering I'd married a ninja, that didn't mean all that much. After not hearing any response, I got up and poked my head out into the living room. Ranger was sitting on the couch.

"You're back early," I commented as I walked over.

He looked up at me, and I froze mid-step.

Whoa.

"Somehow they messed up my order with the contacts," he grumbled. "So I'm stuck with these for a few days until they come in."

"Oh."

I really hoped it wasn't just a few days. Because Ranger in glasses was just about the sexiest thing I'd ever seen. And that included Ranger in a tux. Maybe even Ranger naked. It was all I could do to keep from jumping him right then and there.

"What do you think?" he asked.

Oh my gosh. He looked so unsure of my response. As if the glasses had somehow marred all of his incredibly handsome features. Or maybe he thought they diminished the whole intimidation thing he had going. Honestly, I didn't care what he thought. If it were up to me, those glasses would _never_ leave his face.

I licked my lips. "I _like_ them. A lot, actually."

His mouth twitched. "Yeah?"

" _Oh_ yeah."

"They kind of look dorky though, right?"

Maybe if the definition of dorky included phrases like "drop-dead sexy" or just plain "yum." I took a seat next to him on the couch and grinned.

"Say something sexy," I requested playfully.

"Something sexy," he deadpanned back.

I rolled my eyes. "That's not exactly what I had in mind."

His mouth twitched as he leaned closer. "¡Qué hermosa te ves!" he breathed against my lips just before kissing me. "Better?"

Hot. _Damn_!

I scrambled to my feet and quickly pulled Ranger onto his. I pushed, prodded, and practically shoved him into the bedroom. "I have no idea what you said just now, but it was like a freaking aphrodisiac."

I was growing frantic as my hands fumbled stupidly with all our clothes. Why did we have to wear so many damn pieces of fabric anyway? And buttons? Who invented those stupid contraptions? You practically had to know rocket science to get _one_ undone. And Ranger's shirt had like half a million! What the hell?

He gave a small laugh as I blew out a sudden sigh of exasperation. "Need a little help there, babe?"

And that's when I started crying.

Damn hormones.


	56. Chapter 56

"Can we stop for a snack?" I asked as we drove past another fast food sign on the freeway.

Ranger gave me a look. "We just had lunch."

"Yeah, but I don't think I ate enough. I'm eating for two now, you know."

His mouth twitched in amusement. "Babe."

"I think a milkshake would probably do the trick."

"For what, an hour?"

I rolled my eyes. "I _finally_ get over my morning sickness, and now everyone's giving me crap about being hungry all the time."

Ranger gave my leg a sympathetic pat. "What kind of milkshake?"

"Chocolate," I blurted without hesitation. Then I thought for a moment. "But maybe vanilla would be more refreshing. Or strawberry. That's healthier, right? Because it's got fruit?"

The look on Ranger's face made me wonder if he was regretting inviting me along on this little adventure.

"So, strawberry?" He turned off at the next exit.

"Maybe. Except I don't really like strawberry all that much."

"Just go with the chocolate then."

I sighed. "Fine."

We pulled up to the drive thru window, and a staticky voice asked to take our order.

"One regular chocolate shake, please," Ranger stated.

"Large," I countered.

"One _large_ chocolate shake, please."

"Will that be all for you, sir?"

He snuck a quick glance my direction. "One can only hope."

"Hey!" I yelled, punching him hard in the shoulder.

I heard a small laugh over the intercom. "Please pull forward for your total."

We pulled up to the window, and a middle-aged woman in a hairnet took Ranger's money. "Just a minute, handsome, and we'll have that right out for you."

Ranger smiled politely.

A moment later, the cashier returned with the milkshake, and Ranger handed it to me. I just stared at it.

"Is somethin' the matter, sweets?" the woman asked.

I gave my best dazzling Stephanie smile. "Would you mind making this a cookies and cream instead?"

Ranger gave a barely audible sigh as he passed back the untouched beverage. "I'll pay you for another one," he said by way of an apology.

"Nonsense. How far along?"

"Almost five months."

"Her bump's adorable."

"Thanks!" I called over Ranger's shoulder.

Several minutes later, our inconvenienced cashier returned with a large cookies and cream milkshake. And a little brown bag.

"What's in here?" Ranger asked as he passed everything over to me.

"A complimentary order of fries," she replied. "The sweet and salty thing used to really hit the spot with me when I was pregnant."

I opened the bag and started bawling. "That's…so…nice!" I spluttered, grabbing a napkin from the bag for my dripping nose and eyes.

The woman smiled. "Anytime, sweets. Good luck to you both."

We started pulling away, and Ranger's eyes widened ever so slightly as I downed half the milkshake in a matter of minutes.

Just as we were about to get back on the road, I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. "Wait!" I yelled.

Ranger hit the brakes, and we both lurched forward. "What?" he asked, eyes full of concern.

"I think I need to pee."

###

After a few more hours in the car and several more pit stops, we finally managed to reach our destination. A little, nondescript house in upstate New York.

Nick Fox stood on the porch, his clothes looking sharp and pressed. His smile casual as ever; relaxed as if he hadn't a care in the world.

"Wow, something's different here," he smirked when we got out of the car and he noticed the rounded bump protruding from under my shirt.

"They always warn you not to swallow those darn watermelon seeds," I shrugged.

Nick grinned.

Ranger ignored the exchange and took my hand as he guided me up the steps. "Thanks for meeting us, Fox."

"A pleasure as always."

Nick ushered us into the house, and we all stood in the entryway for a moment.

"So this is the whole trophy place, huh?" I asked.

Honestly, it didn't look like much. Especially considering the previous owner's rumored occupation. I mean, from what I could tell, it didn't even have marble floors or gold-encrusted furnishings. What had this guy been blowing his money on? Books?

"No offense," I said eyeing Nick, "but what are you doing here? I thought our business was already concluded."

He shrugged. "I'm good at cracking safes."

I can't say the admission was all that surprising.

"This place has a safe that needs cracking?"

Ranger glanced around. "There's a good possibility. Smart people don't leave their valuables out in the open."

Yeah except the owner of this joint was currently pushing up daisies. I'm not sure how smart you can really be if you're dead.

We walked around for a while taking in the house that theft and extortion built. I'm not gonna lie, I was a bit disappointed.

"Are we looking for something specific?" I asked Ranger.

"Yes."

"Mind filling me in on some details."

"Would if I could, babe."

Nick called to us from another room. "I may have found something of interest over here. You two may want to come and take a look."

I followed Ranger down the hallway to a small and simple bedroom. Nick was standing near a wall, inspecting it with his fingers.

"Do you think that maybe we got the wrong address?" I asked.

Ranger shrugged.

"Okay," I called over to Nick. "What's so interesting in here?"

He pointed to a seam in the wallpaper.

"Yeah, that stuff's really ugly, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it interesting."

He laughed before turning to Ranger. "You got a knife?"

Ranger retrieved one from his pocket and handed it over to Fox who proceeded to slice along the seam in the paper. I whole section peeled away revealing a metal square behind it. Cool.

"Something tells me this guy was a little paranoid," I said.

Ranger gave Nick a nod, and he set to work messing with the safe.

An hour passed, and I felt my boredom alarm start blaring at full volume. Not to mention I kind of had to pee again. So I started fidgeting.

Ranger glanced my direction. "Is something wrong?"

"Do you think I could use the bathroom here?"

His mouth twitched.

"It's not my fault," I protested.

"Go. But be aware there probably isn't any running water."

Fantastic. I loved using bathrooms without running water…

I concluded my business and stood staring at the vanity mirror for a while. You know, pregnancy didn't look all that bad on me. Granted, I was only halfway through, but at least I hadn't morphed into a puffy Pregzilla yet. Although maybe that depended on who you asked these days. Some of the Rangeguys had seen some rather interesting hormonal behavior. Hopefully I hadn't ruined our relationship. Or scarred them for life.

I leaned a bit closer to inspect a small blemish when my elbow bumped the corner of the mirror. It sank into the wall slightly. Curiosity got the better of me, so I pushed it again, but with more intent. The whole thing moved revealing a deep hole in the wall. Stacked to the brim with a whole crapload of cash, jewels, and other shiny things! Holy crap!

"Ranger!" I called. "You're gonna want to get in here!"

I heard him quickly padding down the hallway.

"Are you okay?" he asked, assessing me for any damage.

I just pointed to the hole.

"Interesting." He poked around for a moment before his eyes widened, and he raced back to the other room. "Fox, stop!" he yelled.

But it was too late. Or at least I assumed it was. Because the next thing I knew Ranger was sprinting back to the bathroom for me and running us at lightning speed out the front door; Nick a pace or two behind us.

And then the whole house exploded.

I frowned as I watched it burn from across the street. This sort of thing hadn't happened to me in a while. Guess the con artist really had been paranoid. Enough so that he'd booby-trapped his own safe. Go figure.

We all looked at each other. Guess that was the end of our whacked out treasure hunt.


	57. Chapter 57

Nick sent me and Ranger home promising to come up with a clever story for the police in regards to the sudden house explosion in the middle of a quiet residential area. Considering he probably had a lifetime's worth of practice in "clever stories", we decided it was mostly safe to let him handle things. Besides, neither Ranger nor I wanted to be involved in any more police investigations. We'd already met our quota for the year.

"Sorry about the house," I offered as we hopped back on the freeway.

Ranger was looking a little…sad maybe? Disappointed?

"Not your fault, babe." He glanced over at me. "Besides, you probably saved us." He looked down at my baby bump and rubbed his face. "Shit. What was I even thinking? I shouldn't have had you in there. But I honestly wasn't expecting a rigged safe."

I shook my head and smiled a little. "Those cons. So unpredictable."

"Tell me about it."

He sighed. It was the first legitimate sigh I think I'd ever heard from him.

"Did we really need the money?" I asked.

He shook his head. "It was never about the money, babe."

I gave him a questioning look. "But you said…"

"I know what I said. Rangeman's fine."

"So, what? You were having a Midas moment?"

His mouth twitched. "You know me better than that."

"Yeah, but I also know you like nice things. Maybe you'd been eyeing the latest Porsche model or something."

He smiled. "Babe."

"Diamond encrusted lingerie? I hear Victoria Secret has a fantasy bra that goes for two mil."

He raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't say no…"

"Then what?"

He sighed again. "My grandmother in Miami had the contents of her safety deposit box stolen when I was staying with her as a teen."

Okay... "And you thought they somehow ended up in that house?"

He gave his classic singular head nod.

I made a face. "You're totally yanking my chain."

"No, I'm not."

"You're telling me the con artist that was linked to Barney stole your grandma's safety deposit box?"

"Small world, right?"

I considered the possibility. "How sure are you about all of this?" Ranger never did wild goose chases, so I knew he must have been pretty confident in his findings.

"Moderately. I'd been doing searches for years. Even before we'd met. But no one ever seemed to know who this guy was. Even amongst other thieves and cons. He was simply known as the Phantom."

I thought back to the story Barney had told me. About the guy at the bank and how he'd disappeared without a trace. Of course, at some point Barney had tracked him down, partnered with him for a time, and then promptly dispatched him.

Guess Barney was smarter than I'd given him credit for. He'd managed to find an impossible man.

"Wow. That's crazy."

"Crazy story. But unfortunately nothing to show for it."

I reached over and squeezed his arm affectionately. "What were you hoping to find?"

"Just a box. It was something my grandfather had made for my grandmother as an engagement present."

I started laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"I'm sorry, but...this was all over a _box_?"

"A box and its contents."

I leaned down and started rummaging through my handbag. I set a few stacks of money on the console between us.

Ranger glanced down. "You didn't."

"I know this probably doesn't make up for anything, but I may have grabbed some stuff before everything went boom. Maybe somewhere in the back of my mind I knew something bad was going to happen." It wouldn't have been the first time.

I finished stacked everything from my bag on the console between us. It wasn't much considering the depth of the hole behind that trick mirror, but it felt better than being _completely_ empty handed. Maybe we had enough here to buy that diamond lingerie.

Ranger took the next exit and pulled the car over. Then he just sat there staring at the loot. He reached down and picked up something I hadn't even noticed I'd grabbed; a small wooden box with golden butterflies etched along the surface.

"What is it?" I asked.

"A puzzle box." Ranger began inspecting it, running his fingers along the sides and edges. Then I watched as a slow grin spread across his face. Within a matter of minutes, the box was opened.

"How did you know how to do that?"

He shrugged as if solving mystery puzzle boxes was a skill everybody knew. Then he took my hand and dumped the contents into it.

My mouth fell open. "What is all of this?"

I was holding a very old photograph of a young couple with a baby.

Ranger leaned over and pointed to the infant. "My father," he smiled.

I looked beneath the photo and found a beautiful diamond ring along with two diamond butterfly hair combs.

Ranger took the ring and held it up so I could see it. "This is the ring I'd always imagined giving to you at our wedding." He turned it so I could see the inscription inside: " _Mi mariposa_."

My eyes welled up. Wow.

"She was always his _Hermosa Mariposa_ , his beautiful butterfly. At least that's what my grandmother used to tell me."

I reached for the box. "There appears to be a definite theme here. Seems your grandfather had good taste."

"Guess it runs in the family," Ranger smirked before leaning over to kiss me. Then he took my hand and placed it on his chest. "Though I'm not sure I can call you my butterfly."

"Why not?" I pouted. "Am I not graceful enough? It's the Hungarian thing, isn't it?"

His mouth twitched. "Hardly."

"Then what?"

"Loving you hasn't altered you in the slightest." He paused. "But it has changed me. For the better."

Well, crap. Now I couldn't even see anymore. I kept dabbing at my eyes, but more kept falling. Jeez. What was with all these hormones?

"I'm sorry," I sniffed. "I didn't mean to turn into a drippy, splotchy mess."

Ranger wiped some of the tears from my face. "Good thing I'm used to it." He took my hand and slipped the ring onto my finger.

I held it up to catch some of the fading rays of sunlight. The refraction made tiny rainbows against the interior of the car.

"It suits you," Ranger smiled.

I had to admit, even with my puffy, water-retaining fingers, it was a perfect fit.


	58. Chapter 58

_Four(ish) Months Later…_

"Wow," I breathed.

My finger traced the tiny arm and hand protruding from the tightly wrapped bundle in my arms.

"She's so…perfect."

Ranger kissed my head. "We do good work, babe."

I glanced up. His expression looked oddly relaxed and over-the-moon happy. I didn't even know Ranger did the whole over-the-moon thing. For some reason I thought it was only reserved for us overly emotional types.

My attention shifted back to the sleeping baby in my arms. "Is it normal to feel totally elated and scared shitless at the same time?"

Ranger's mouth twitched. "From what I hear."

"What do you mean 'hear'? You've been through all of this before. Remember?"

He shook his head. "It was different."

"Still, were you worried about becoming a parent?"

Probably not. Ranger didn't really do the whole worry thing. Plus, he was good at just about everything. Hell, he'd already proven himself to be masterfully proficient with the whole swaddling and diaper changing business. I mean, seriously, what do you have to worry about when you're magic?

"Mostly I was sad."

His response caught me by surprise. I looked back up at him and frowned.

"But you don't do sad," I said stupidly.

He shrugged. "Not often. But despite what everyone says, I'm not a robot either."

I already knew this to be true. Ranger just had more layers than most. Maybe a lot more, actually. But I didn't mind sifting through them. Especially since I knew what was buried deep down underneath.

"Sorry you were sad with Julie."

"Don't be," he said with a kiss to my head. "It all worked out for the best."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out something small. "I got her something," he smiled. It was the world's smallest headband. All white and pink with tiny crocheted butterflies sewn on.

"That's adorable! But you may have to put it on over the hat," I cautioned. "She gets really mad if she gets cold."

We both knew it was quite the understatement. The tiny thing howled like a banshee whenever diaper change time rolled around. The noise got me so frazzled, I'd already put two diapers on backwards.

Ranger gave me a look. "Sounds like someone else I know."

"Hey, I mostly tolerate being cold. It's just not my favorite."

He gave a small laugh as he helped me work the headband over the hat.

"What do you think, Mari?" I leaned down and whispered to the baby. "Your daddy picked it out special just for you."

She gave an adorable baby sigh in her sleep, and my heart instantly melted.

"Mari, you smell so good." I took a moment to savor that new-baby smell. "Maybe even better than freshly made donuts."

Ranger laughed. "Babe."

"You don't think so?"

"I think she's exactly what you said before. Perfect."

Then he gave me a smile. That timeless smile that I knew I'd be seeing for a long, long time. The smile that made the world feel unusually small and cozy. And a lot less complicated.

It reminded me of a memory. Of a moment I was absolutely sure nothing could possibly trump.

Turns out I was wrong.

 _The End. (or beginning depending on how you want to look at it) Hope you all enjoyed!_


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